FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick observations from Sunday night’s 120-103 win over the Portland Trail Blazers
SLAM DUNK – If this season winds up going someplace special, mark Nov. 8 on your calendars, boys and girls. The Pistons spotted Portland an 18-point lead and then played a remarkable fourth quarter, outscoring them 41-11 to win going away. Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson were sensational: Drummond scored 29 points to go with 27 rebounds and Jackson tied a Pistons record with 26 fourth-quarter points and finished with 40. The Pistons looked cooked after three quarters, Portland shooting 65 percent and running up 92 points – two off the season-high yield for the Pistons. They trailed by 18 late in the third quarter and by 13 entering the fourth. But Portland cracked the door with a flurry of turnovers to start the fourth quarter and the Blazers got jittery as the Pistons crept up their backs. Portland shot just 4 of 19 in the fourth quarter and committed 11 turnovers. Jackson made 11 of 12 shots after starting 4 of 14. Drummond hit 14 of 19 shots and also blocked three shots and had two steals in likely his finest all-around game ever. Now it gets easy: on to unbeaten Golden State for the Pistons, 5-1 on the season and 3-0 on the road.
FREE THROW – The Pistons are facing a dynamic array of backcourt players on their trip through the Western Conference this week. It started in Phoenix with Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight and continued with Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, the highest-scoring tandem in the league at nearly 50 points a game. It doesn’t get any easier: the Pistons visit Golden State on Monday with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson right behind Lillard and McCollum – who finished with 44 points together on Sunday – at a combined 48.9 points a game. Still ahead are Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul. The Pistons will also get a heavy dose of 3-point shooting on their trip. Golden State, the Lakers and Portland ranked 2-3-4 in 3-point attempts per game going into Sunday’s games and four of the top 12 teams in 3-point accuracy are among the six opponents on the trip – Golden State, Portland, Sacramento and Phoenix. “By the end of this trip, we’ll have a pretty good idea of where we are in terms of our pick-and-roll defense and what we need to work on and where we need to get better,” Stan Van Gundy said.
3-POINTER – Marcus Morris’ return to Phoenix became a pretty big deal, far beyond the usual initial return for a traded player, due to the unusual circumstances of being separated from his brother and what the Morris twins perceived, at least, as the Suns violating the spirit of the agreement they made in signing below-market extensions the previous off-season. Less ballyhooed was Steve Blake’s return to Portland, where he had three separate stints with the Blazers and where he makes his off-season home. “I don’t think I’ll get booed like (Morris) did,” Blake joked before Sunday’s game. He didn’t drawing a nice ovation when he entered the game late in the first quarter. Blake playd 14 minutes and finished with three points and three assists with no turnovers. Blake will also have homecomings of a sort at three other stops on the Pistons six-game road trip: Monday at Golden State and then Saturday and Sunday in back-to-back games at Staples Center against the Clippers and Lakers. “There’s quite a few teams we’ll be playing that I’ve played before,” said Blake, playing for his eighth different team this season. “All great experiences for me.”
