SACRAMENTO – The Pistons won at Phoenix on the strength of Derrick Rose and Brandon Knight’s 1-2 closing punch. By the time their next game ended, they’d taken a 1-2 punch to the gut – hardly the first time in this injury-ravaged season – as both players were dealing with leg injuries.
How the Pistons cobble together their point guard position for their next game – Wednesday when Oklahoma City visits as the Pistons wrapped up a four-game road trip with a 106-100 loss at Sacramento on Sunday – is anyone’s guess.
The good news is that Rose and Knight at least appeared to avoid serious injury. Rose suffered a right ankle injury early in the second quarter after he was at the center of a fast start that saw the Pistons take an 18-1 lead that swelled to a 21-point cushion in the first quarter.
But he walked off under his own power, wasn’t immediately ruled out for the rest of the game – though he didn’t return – and wasn’t in a walking boot afterward.
“Not sure yet (of the injury’s severity),” Dwane Casey said. “He was out of the boot, so he was moving around. I think they’re going to wait and see. I haven’t talked to him.”
Knight banged his knee in the final 10 seconds with the Pistons trailing by four points as he attempted to get around Harrison Barnes. He grasped at it as he hit the ground, wincing in pain.
“To be able to walk off …,” Knight said, acknowledging that he might have dodged a bullet. “Feeling better already, so thankful to be able to get up from that and that it’s not a worse situation. Just happy to be able to walk out of here under my own strength and continue to treat it.”
Without Rose to punch holes in Sacramento’s defense, the Pistons struggled to generate much offense, scoring just 39 points in the middle two quarters. By halftime, the Kings had pulled within a point and by midway through the third quarter they led by 10.
“It was a little bit more difficult (to generate offense without Rose), but then they started playing more hard on defense,” Svi Mykhailiuk said. “Pressured us a lot more. I felt we were on our heels and that’s what kept us from winning the game.”
The Pistons stuck around on the strength of their 3-point shooting, finishing 18 of 42 outside the arc but just 15 of 38 inside of it. The Kings held a 52-30 edge on points in the paint, grabbing 17 offensive rebounds and finishing with an 18-8 edge in second-chance points.
“D-Rose getting hurt stalled us a little bit,” John Henson said. “Especially attacking offensively. He puts a lot of pressure on the rim and we had to figure it out. They made their run. We just couldn’t sustain it and came up short.”
Knight hit 5 of 10 triples and scored 16 points, one of six Pistons in double figures. Christian Wood, coming off of the best month of his career, got March off in similar fashion with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Mykhailiuk hit 4 of 9 triples, Tony Snell 3 of 6 and Langston Galloway 3 of 8.
Casey wished the Pistons would have gotten up even more 3-point shots, though, and not having Rose’s penetration and playmaking cost them in that regard, he felt.
“We missed a lot of good opportunities to kick it out,” he said. “They’re a team that protects the paint pretty well. The kickout opportunities were there and that’s the thing we have to develop. We are a 3-point shooting team and we run a lot of stuff to create threes. Our guards have to see it. I wish I could get out there and put a computer chip and get them to throw it out there.”
If Rose and Knight are to miss any time, the Pistons will be in a tight spot for finding players to fill 48 minutes at point guard. The options at hand all come with asterisks.
Bruce Brown missed his third straight game Sunday with a left knee contusion, though he could be back by Wednesday and Casey is desirous of using him exclusively at shooting guard for the remainder of the season to develop those skills. Derrick Walton’s 10-day contract expires on Monday, though he’s eligible to sign a second 10-day deal or the Pistons could dedicate his roster spot to another point guard. And Jordan Bone could be brought back from the G League, though his service time is creeping toward his 45-day limit as a two-way player.
“Derrick came in and did a good job as far as what he could do,” Casey said. “Brandon came in – that’s why he and Derrick were so dynamic together. You had two veteran point guards together. They didn’t have to really dominate the ball. Both of them help each other.”
Knight, as grateful as he was not to leave the Golden 1 Center on crutches, was disappointed that after he and Rose combined for 24 fourth-quarter points in the Friday win at Phoenix there was no second act for them on the road trip finale.
“One of our best players, a leader for us,” Knight said. “He makes so much happen on the court for us, always getting in the paint. His presence on the floor is big time, so it definitely hurt not having him out there.”