MEMPHIS –Not often you come back 1-3 from a road trip and say you took a step forward. The Pistons aren’t beating their chests about it, but they’ll come back a better team than they were a week ago after losing in a dogfight at Memphis on Saturday following earlier last-minute losses at Chicago and Washington – three teams that took a cumulative 21-5 record into Saturday night.
“We played some of the top teams in each conference and I think we held our own in each game,” D.J. Augustin said after the 95-88 loss to Memphis, an NBA-best 9-1, in a game that wasn’t locked up until Mike Conley rescued a chaotic Memphis possession with a runner out of a loose-ball scramble with 31 seconds left and the Pistons down by five points.
“We got a good win against the Thunder. We’ve got to keep building and keep pushing and, like Coach said, don’t let the rope go.”
“I think on the defensive end of the floor, in particular, I think we’re starting to play harder and better,” Stan Van Gundy said. “We can take something from that. The main thing you can take is – even playing good teams on the road, five games in seven nights, you’re at Chicago on a back to back, you’re at Memphis on a back to back – our guys are developing a better toughness, a better resolve.
“The thing I hope they take away is – we certainly have to get better, there’s no question – but it’s not like there’s an insurmountable gulf there we have to cross to be able to win games. We’re not that far away and I hope that’s what they take from it. And then I hope we apply ourselves to get better.”
Those circumstances Van Gundy articulated – the five games in seven nights, finishing a road trip with a back to back against a rested team on a roll – looked to conspire to produce the first lopsided Pistons game of the season when Memphis took an 11-point lead early in the second quarter with offense appearing a monumental struggle for the Pistons.
But after they shot 30 percent in the first quarter, Van Gundy’s second unit – Jonas Jerebko, Kyle Singler, Caron Butler and D.J. Augustin the constants – rallied in a marvelous second quarter, leading the Pistons to a 34-point outburst that pulled them within a point at halftime.
“I thought the guys that came off the bench got us back in the game, played well,” said Singler, who knocked down five triples and led the Pistons with 21 points. “But it just wasn’t a complete game for us to win the game.”
There were a few glaring holes on the final stat sheet: rebounding and free throws. Memphis outscored the Pistons 27-10 at the line and outrebounded them 53-43, 34-20 in the second half. Those numbers, especially the rebounding totals, were influenced greatly by the continuing foul trouble of Andre Drummond. This time it limited him to 20 minutes. When he picked up his fourth in the first minute of the third quarter, the game changed.
Zach Randolph had 18 of his 22 rebounds in the second half, 11 of his 13 offensive rebounds.
“He got his fourth (foul) right away and I elected to take him out,” Van Gundy said of Drummond. “Looking back, maybe a mistake. And then they really started to pound us. I don’t think I’ve ever had a guy (get) 13 offensive rebounds in a game. Zach worked us over. I think the big things were second-chance points and 33 free-throw attempts. We got outscored by 17 at the line. That was really it.”
Memphis counts as one of the few teams that can match the Pistons’ size and strength in the paint with Randolph and Marc Gasol backed up by Kosta Koufos. Gasol and Randolph wound up combining for 40 points and 30 rebounds.
“They have two great big men down low who play very well together,” Augustin said. “They’ve been playing together for a long time and it’s hard to win against a team like that.”
As it proved to be at Chicago and at Washington, when the Pistons went down to the wire with two of the East’s hottest teams. But they’re getting closer.
“It’s different things different nights,” Van Gundy said. “It’s a consistency issue. You can see our offensive numbers aren’t good. For us to win, we have to win the rebound battle and we have to defend. Our defense has gotten better, but we got kicked on the glass tonight. So we’ve got to get more consistent, but we’ve just got to keep fighting and find some more offensive answers but continue to make progress defensively.”