Three quick observations from Monday night’s 135-106 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center
GHOST OF GRANT – The Pistons picked up in Portland to start 2023 where they left off in Minnesota to end 2022. After holding the Timberwolves to 40 points in the second half to enable a New Year’s eve comeback win from 18 down, the Pistons held Portland to 22 first-quarter points – and All-NBA star Damian Lillard to zero. Things were still going well deep into the second quarter, but Portland finished Monday’s first half on a 15-0 run over the final three minutes to take a 61-52 halftime lead. When the Trail Blazers scored the first five points of the second half, the Pistons found themselves in a 14-point hole. That prompted Dwane Casey to get a timeout a minute into the third quarter and a lineup change to downsize with Alec Burks replacing Isaiah Stewart. After a 7-0 Pistons run halved Portland’s lead, the Trail Blazers quickly pushed their margin back to 19. The prime culprit for Portland was Jerami Grant, who spent the past two seasons as the Pistons leading scorer before being traded in June for a draft pick that the Pistons parlayed into Jalen Duren via draft-night maneuvering by general manager Troy Weaver. Grant, averaging 22.0 points and shooting a career-best .439 from the 3-point line, scored 36 points to lead the Blazers, hitting 5 of 8 from the 3-point line. The Pistons took a season-low 18 attempts from the 3-point line. Their previous low was 23 on Dec. 21 at Philadelphia.
BAGLEY INJURED – The Pistons bench that contributed 65 points in Saturday’s win at Minnesota when all five members of the second unit scored in double figures – only the third time that’s happened in the last 40 years for the franchise – incurred a loss when Marvin Bagley III suffered a right-hand injury in the first half and didn’t return after contributing four points and two rebounds in eight minutes. The Pistons bench has been the NBA’s most productive over the past six weeks, averaging 48.9 points a game and even without Bagley had another solid performance. Alec Burks led the charge with 19 points in 24 minutes and Hamidou Diallo added 16. The bench should get a boost with the return of Killian Hayes, who has completed his three-game suspension and will return on Wednesday at Golden State, the fourth game of a five-game road trip that concludes in San Antonio on Friday. Assuming Hayes steps back into the starting lineup, Bey is likely to resume his role as a scorer with the second unit. Nerlens Noel, used sparingly this season, played the final five minutes at Portland.
BOUNCING BACK – Rookies Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren were their combined quietest of the season in a noisy Pistons win to ring out 2022 when they came back from an 19-point deficit to win going away at Minnesota. Ivey finished with one point, missing all four of his shots, and Duren was limited to three points and zero rebounds. Ivey didn’t get much of a chance to atone early as he was saddled with two fouls less than two minutes into Monday’s game, but Duren racked up six rebounds in the first quarter alone on his way to registering five points, 11 rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal in 22 minutes. Ivey’s first quarter didn’t go nearly as well – he picked up two fouls in the first two minutes and sat out the rest of the quarter – but he rebounded with a 10-point second quarter and finished with 13 points.