FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick observations from Tuesday night’s 1090-99 loss to the San Antonio Spurs
SLAM DUNK – If there’s something the San Antonio Spurs haven’t seen, chances are nobody has. The Pistons made a remarkable charge, coming from 19 points down to pull within six with more than four minutes to play, and a lesser team might have cracked. But not the 34-6 Spurs. The Pistons scored 25 points against the NBA’s top-ranked defense in the first eight-plus minutes of the fourth quarter, but San Antonio kept getting big plays when it really needed them – a corner three from Danny Green, another triple from Tony Parker, a few bloodless jump shots from LaMarcus Aldridge – from its endless lineup of All-Stars and future Hall of Famers. The Pistons started fast, too, scoring 19 points in the game’s first nine minutes to lead by eight points, but the Spurs clamped down on defense and the Pistons got to halftime shooting 36 percent and were still at 38 percent through three quarters. Parker hit 7 of 7 in the first five minutes of the third quarter as the Spurs pushed a nine-point halftime lead to 19, scoring 23 of his 31 in the second half, and Aldridge finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was the Pistons best player, finishing with 25 points. San Antonio is now 7-0 when playing the second half of a back-to-back set this season with all of them coming by double digits. The strong fourth quarter got the Pistons up to 42 percent shooting, but they were just 6 of 23 from the 3-point arc and other than Caldwell-Pope (4 of 6) and Anthony Tolliver (2 of 5) nobody made one in 12 tries.
FREE THROW – With Andre Drummond in constant first-half trouble – picking up his second with 4:50 left in the first quarter and his third with 8:40 left before halftime – Aron Baynes got as much playing time in the first half (13:17) as he averaged over the first 37 games. Gregg Popovich joked before the game that the Spurs wouldn’t let Baynes “anywhere near Tim Duncan” in their practices because of how physical Baynes plays. The Spurs got a taste of it in the second quarter when a Baynes screen waylaid Jonathan Simmons. Baynes finished the first half with 10 points and six rebounds and wound up with a season-high 15 points and nine rebounds in 19 minutes. Because Drummond played only 9:27 of the first half, he was fresh and ready to soak up plenty of second-half minutes. Drummond rallied to finish with 17 points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes, he and Brandon Jennings leading the fourth-quarter charge. Reggie Jackson also had a double-double with 10 points and 11 assists, but shot just 3 of 13 and had five turnovers, four in the first half.
3-POINTER – The Celtics and Lakers are the two most decorated NBA franchises with 33 NBA championship banners between them, 17 for the Celtics and 16 for the Lakers. The Celtics won eight straight championships in the x’60s with Red Auerbach coaching and Bill Russell spearheading a Hall of Fame lineup. The Lakers won five titles in the star-studded ’80s. But you can make a strong case that the Spurs run over the past 16 years – winning five titles – is the greatest in NBA history given the leveling factors of free agency and the salary cap. Since Tim Duncan came to the Spurs in 1997, San Antonio has won 1,038 games – a .708 winning percentage. That’s 142 more wins – 22 games shy of two full NBA seasons – than the next-closest franchise. “It’s nearly unprecedented, what they’ve done,” Stan Van Gundy said. “To sustain that kind of success for this long. … This is Tim’s (Duncan) 20th year. He’s been at the heart of it.” Duncan finished with 14 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes as Gregg Popovich rode his key players longer than usual to get the win.
