FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick observations from Sunday night’s 117-111 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena
HEADING HOME – The last stop on a lengthy road trip is one that prompts anxiety for coaches, but the Pistons put up as much of a fight as Dwane Casey could have hoped to get – and it took an MVP-level performance from the league’s reigning MVP for Denver to pull out the win. Nikola Jokic finished with 34 points, nine rebounds and eight assists and hit four clutch free throws in the final minute. After Denver closed the third quarter on an 11-1 run to push the Pistons 16 points down, Detroit responded with a 14-2 run to open the fourth quarter and get back within four with eight minutes to go and got even at 109 on Cory Joseph’s lane jumper with 1:45 to play. After Joseph again tied the game at 111, the Pistons got a stop and had a chance to take the lead, but Joseph had the ball poked away and Saddiq Bey – who hit two key triples late – fouled Jokic in the backcourt. Jokic’s two foul shots with 40 seconds left put Denver ahead. The Pistons committed their 21st turnover, though, when Saddiq Bey stepped out of bounds. Denver wound up scoring 28 points off of 22 Pistons turnovers. Denver opened the game by making 11 of its first 13 shots, but the Pistons weathered the barrage and actually came out of the first quarter with a one-point lead. Thanks to a brilliant second-quarter stretch from Cade Cunningham, they overcame a 10-point deficit by closing the half on an 18-8 run to get to halftime tied at 60. Cunningham followed up Friday’s 25-point outing at Utah – one in which he also posted six rebounds, five assists, two steals and three blocked shots – with 18 points, five rebounds and eight assists at Denver. The Pistons won’t have much of a chore digesting the game plan for their next outing – they host Denver on Tuesday.
NEW ROLE FOR NOW – Killian Hayes returned after missing two games with a right hip contusion suffered in Tuesday’s loss at Golden State, but he came off the bench for the first time this season. It doesn’t necessarily signal a change in roles for Hayes, though, as Dwane Casey said before the game that he’d be brought back slowly. Hayes has had three periods of absence this season totaling 12 games – six with a thumb injury, four in health and safety protocols and two with the recent hip injury. Hayes seemed to move without any ill effects from the injury, coming off the bench for eight points and five assists in 24 minutes. His triple with 3:33 to play pulled the Pistons within three. Cory Joseph, who started the past two games with Hayes out, again was the starter and scored 18 points with six assists, hitting 7 of 8 shots. Casey went with both Joseph and Hayes down the stretch along with Cade Cunningham.
ALMOST A NUGGET – Rodney McGruder two weeks ago expected to be sitting on the opposite bench for the Pistons-Nuggets game and even joined Denver in Los Angeles for its Jan. 11 game with the Clippers before the trade that was to send Bol Bol to Detroit was rescinded when Bol failed a physical. It was later revelated that Bol underwent foot surgery and he was then traded to Boston. Since rejoining the Pistons, McGruder has had his three highest-scoring games of the season consecutively entering Sunday’s game, totaling 49 points. He finished with six points on Sunday, hitting 2 of 4 shots from the 3-point arc in 24 minutes. One of them came with 5:52 to play to pull the Pistons within five. The second unit was undersized again due to Kelly Olynyk entering NBA health and safety protocols just two games after he returned from a knee injury that forced him to miss 33 games. That moved Trey Lyles back to center with the second unit alongside Josh Jackson, Killian Hayes, Cassius Stanley and McGruder. Lyles scored 18 points in 21 minutes behind Isaiah Stewart, who also scored 18 and hit 8 of 8 shots before fouling out in the final minute.