Late slide dims Pistons' playoff hopes (Mar 30, 2017)
A buzzer-beating shot by the Brooklyn Nets' Brook Lopez sent the Detroit Pistons into a tailspin.
Another last-second basket on Tuesday -- a tip-in by Miami's Hassan Whiteside -- virtually knocked them out of playoff contention.
The Pistons will try to snap their five-game losing streak when they host the Nets on Thursday night. They will also try to salvage the finale of the three-game series after losing at Barclays Center twice.
Detroit seemed to be in good position for a playoff berth before Lopez made his baseline shot on March 21. The Pistons proceeded to go 0-4 on a road trip filled exclusively with Eastern Conference opponents sporting losing records. They returned home to play Miami in a game with major playoff implications and gave away a four-point lead in the final 30.1 seconds.
Instead of moving within a half-game of the Heat for the eighth-best conference record and final playoff berth, the Pistons (34-41) dropped 2 1/2 games back with seven remaining. The Pistons now trail seventh-place Miami and eighth-place Indiana by three games.
"We still didn't shoot the ball very well, but we didn't let it bother us. We stayed in there and fought really, really hard," coach Stan Van Gundy said. "It's a game we should have won. A couple of different decisions by me and we would have won the game."
Van Gundy was especially mad at himself for leaving in swingman Stanley Johnson during Detroit's final possession instead of bringing in veteran point guard Beno Udrih. Johnson got tied up on a double-team and lost a jump ball to Miami's James Johnson, allowing the Heat to take possession down by one.
The Pistons played their second straight game without starting point guard Reggie Jackson, who has been slowed by knee and fatigue issues. He'll likely sit out again on Thursday.
Van Gundy tweaked his lineup for the Heat game, moving forward Tobias Harris back to the sixth-man role he often has played during the second half of the season. Harris scored 19 points in 30 minutes.
"We were getting off to better starts and then our bench just had nothing," Van Gundy said. "Just trying to get a little bit of balance. For the most part, it was pretty effective bringing him in off the bench. I thought our rotations were better. That's probably the only decent move I made all night."
The Nets (16-58) have gone 2-2 since beating the Pistons. They lost at home to Philadelphia 106-101 on Tuesday, shooting 40.4 percent overall and 28.1 percent on 3-point attempts.
"You never know what it is. Is it focus? Is it fatigue, fighting through a little fatigue? But whatever it is, we did not have it," Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. "We did not have the juice from the beginning. It was an uphill battle all game, and we obviously didn't shoot the ball well."
Lopez had another strong game, with 26 points, nine rebounds and six assists, but no other Net had more than 11 points.
"I just felt like we relaxed a little bit after we won three of four, and it's a valuable lesson for us to be able to learn that this league is tough on any given night," point guard Jeremy Lin said. "I'll be the first person to say that I didn't play nearly close to what I'm capable of, so I have to live with that and just get better for the next one."
