Pacers win sixth straight against the disappointing Pistons
The Detroit Pistons go cold in the second half and continue to struggle on the road as they get blown out 105-84 to the Indiana Pacers.
Despite taking a 58-56 lead into half time, the Detroit Pistons turned the ball over an unbelievable 11 times in the third quarter alone which enabled the Pacers a 22-5 run and take an easy victory. The Pistons had 21 turnovers in the game.
The loss moves the Pistons, who have now lost six of their last seven road games, momentarily out of the 8th spot in the East.
The lone bright spot for the Pistons was the continued offensive form of both Jon Leuer and Marcus Morris who combined to shoot 12-22 from the floor after both setting career highs the night before.
For the Pacers, it was a solid all around performance that included six players in double digits and only six turnovers over the contest.
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Paul George led the game in scoring with 21 but it was the play of Lavoy Allen, starting in replace of the injured Thaddeus Young, who finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Reggie Jackson
PG, Detroit Pistons
D7 points and 5 assists is simply not good enough in 27 minutes for Reggie Jackson. He missed several open looks and finished 3-11 from the field. He was unable to get anything going for either himself or his teammates and was below average defensively. At times he looked absolutely exhausted.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
SG, Detroit Pistons
DKentavious Caldwell-Pope finished with just 4 points giving him just 6 points in total over the last two games. He also finished with a game worst -27. He provided very little on both ends but I thought he defended Jeff Teague decently in the first half atleast.
Marcus Morris
SF, Detroit Pistons
CMarcus Morris continued his fine form on offense finishing with a team high 19 points that included hitting all three of his attempts from range. He was easily the Pistons best player but that shouldn’t be read as a compliment as most of his teammates were quite poor. I thought he should have received more touches on offense in the second half but finished with just 11 field goal attempts, hitting 5. I also thought he forced Paul George into some tough shots but unfortunately for Morris and the Pistons, George was able to make most of them.
Tobias Harris
PF, Detroit Pistons
DTobias -Harris was particularly bad in this one. All three of his turnovers were during the pivotal third quarter stretch that blew the game right away from the Pistons. It is normally Harris that is the lone bright spot in disappointing displays like this but he really struggled to make a mark on the game.
Andre Drummond
C, Detroit Pistons
DAndre Drummond finished with 6 turnovers, two of which came on offensive three second calls. I thought the Pistons were too slow in getting Drummond the ball down low and too often settled for jump shots rather than feeding the big man. Lavoy Allen was able to take him out of the paint and hit numerous fairly wide open jump shots while Drummond was defending him.
Stanley Johnson
SF, Detroit Pistons
C+Stanley Johnson started the game aggressively including two strong drives that resulted in two layups, one while being fouled. He was kept fairly well in check after that but it is good to see him continue to gain confidence. He was involved in a couple defensive mix ups.
Aron Baynes
C, Detroit Pistons
DAron Baynes was given an absolute lesson by Al Jefferson. The crafty veteran finished with 13 points on 6-9 shooting and there was very little Baynes could do to stop him. He did set a number of hard screens as well as picking up a couple blocks late but his inability to slow down Big Al really hurt the Pistons.
Ish Smith
PG, Detroit Pistons
C+This was another example where the Pistons were better on offense with Ish Smith on the court over Jackson. The ball tends to move quicker and more freely with teammates also seemingly willing to make the extra pass. His box score doesn’t really stand out but he finished with 6 assists and did hit on a couple jump shots.
Jon Leuer
PF, Detroit Pistons
CJon Leuer scored an efficient 14 points primarily from the mid range. He missed both three point attempts but was able to secure 7 rebounds. For what it is worth, He had the best plus/minus out of any Piston starter at -14.
Reggie Bullock
SG/SF, Detroit Pistons
IncReggie Bullock hit two late threes when the game was out of reach and finished with just 9 minutes of action.
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Stan Van Gundy
Head coach, Detroit Pistons
D-I often find when things are not going well for the Pistons, Stan Van Gundy refuses to make substitutions that fall outside of his regular pattern. That third quarter was one of the worst I have seen in a very long time yet despite a couple timeouts, Van Gundy was unable or unwilling to change anything. I also struggle to understand why Boban Marjanovic (assuming he is healthy) wasn’t used in a blowout loss with the result well and truly confirmed early in the fourth quarter. 21 turnovers is completely unacceptable and I hope he will be having some strong words to the team before their next game. This was an opportunity missed to really cement themselves in the race for a playoff spot.
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