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Three quick observations from Sunday night’s 112-100 loss to the Miami Heat at Little Caesars Arena
WISEMAN RISING – What quite likely counts as James Wiseman’s best game since coming to the Pistons six weeks ago sure didn’t start out that way. Wiseman barely touched the ball in the first quarter in seven minutes before taking his scheduled turn on the bench. The one rebound he grabbed might have been his only touch. He didn’t take a shot. When young players – and, lest we forget, Wiseman is still just 21 – get off to slow starts, it’s often difficult for them to pull out of it. But Wiseman had a dominant third quarter – 12 points and five boards on 5 of 17 shooting – in 8:17 before heading to the bench. His triple with eight minutes to go in the quarter gave the Pistons their first second-half lead. He was pushed to 33 minutes when Jalen Duren exited with a possible head injury in the third quarter and finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds, hitting 10 of 13 shots. Jaden Ivey extended his streak of double-digit scoring games to 29 straight with a last-minute pair of free throws. That puts him behind only two separate Dave Bing streaks and one from Kelly Tripucka among Pistons rookies. Bing’s streaks were 33 and 32 straight. If Ivey scores 10 or more points in Tuesday’s game at Atlanta, he’ll tie Tripucka.
TRIPLE TROUBLE – The Pistons appeared ready to put Dwane Casey’s theory that you can’t make enough 2-point shots in today’s NBA to keep up to the test in Sunday’s first half. At halftime, they trailed by five points despite making 15 of 24 shots inside the 3-point line – and 3 of 15 on the other side of it. They they hit 7 of their first 12 triples of the second half to put themselves in position to deal a blow to Miami’s postseason chances. But after the Pistons led 98-96 on a James Wiseman bucket with 4:20 to go, Miami went on a 12-0 run. The Pistons missed their last five 3-point buckets and their offense dried up. When they hit 5 of 10 in a third quarter – capped by Eugene Omoruyi’s 32-footer to beat the buzzer – in which they outscored Miami 34-22, the Pistons surged into a seven-point lead. Jaden Ivey was 2 of 2 from the 3-point line in the first half for the Pistons, but his teammates were 1 of 13. Buddy Boeheim, whose 3-point shot is his overwhelming NBA calling card, got up five shots in six minutes – all clean looks – but missed them all. The Pistons whittled their rotation to eight in the second half and, really, to seven after losing Jalen Duren after a brief stint in the third quarter.
BAGLEY BACK – Marvin Bagley played perhaps his best basketball since coming to the Pistons in the eight games between his return from a thumb injury on Feb. 25 and missing the three previous games with ankle soreness. In eight games, he recorded three double-doubles and scored at least 20 points in all three. Bagley returned to the lineup Sunday and started alongside James Wiseman – Dwane Casey kept the two paired, syncing their exits and entries – and got off to a strong start, scoring six points in seven minutes in his first stint. He finished with 14 points on 6 of 11 shooting to go with three rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes. Bagley moved to center when Jalen Duren was forced to exit the game in the third quarter to be evaluated for a head injury after a nasty collision with Kevin Love. It was only Bagley’s 34th game of the season. He missed the first 13 games with a knee injury suffered in preseason, a bone bruise. Then he suffered a broken hand on Jan. 2 and missed the next 20 games.