FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick observations from Monday night’s 109-104 loss to the Sacramento Kings at The Palace…
SLAM DUNK – The Pistons get four days off until their next game. They’ll have to stew on a game they should have won for a long time. A good chunk of the gains the Pistons made in winning three straight to pull within a game of playoff standing were given back with the second loss in 13 days to the Sacramento Kings, who are 15-27 against the rest of the NBA. The Pistons squandered an 18-point third-quarter lead in a Jan. 10 loss at Sacramento and went up by 11 points in the first quarter in the rematch. But they gave up 65 first-half points to waste their own 62-point half, then after getting some of their defensive issues fixed at halftime – they held the Kings to 44 in the second half – their offense went stagnant. After falling behind by 11 points, the Pistons cut their deficit to six with five minutes left but then committed three turnovers and missed a rushed 3-point attempt in their next four possessions. They pulled back within four points with a minute left, but a DeMarcus Cousins jump shot with 39 seconds to play effectively clinched Sacramento’s win. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope returned after missing five games with a left shoulder injury, but his shooting suffered for his inactivity. He’d made 10 of 15 3-point attempts in the two games before being injured, but the only three baskets he scored came on layups. He went 1 of 8 from the 3-point line – his only success came with eight seconds left and the Pistons down by eight points – and missed three other jump shots inside the arc to finish with 14 points. Jon Leuer scored 15 points in the first quarter, making all six of his shots. Reggie Jackson finished with 18 points and 11 assists for the Pistons. Cousins led the Kings with 22 points, 14 rebounds and six assists.
FREE THROW – Stan Van Gundy is more comfortable with a nine-man rotation, but with everybody available to him and both Stanley Johnson and Reggie Bullock making a case for increased roles he expanded it to 10 against the Kings. That meant an all-bench unit to start the second quarter and the early returns defensively were bleak. The Pistons surrendered 16 points in 3:06 and saw a 10-point lead evaporate. Sacramento got back in the game on the strength of its bench, which scored 35 points by halftime. The catalysts were Ty Lawson, who put up 19 points and six assists, and Willie Cauley-Stein, taken two spots ahead of Stanley Johnson in the 2015 NBA draft. Cauley-Stein scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half. Van Gundy cut Johnson out of the rotation in the second half, but he also shrunk the minutes for his bench in general. When Sacramento opened the fourth quarter with the first two baskets to take its first double-digits lead at 11, Van Gundy waved Reggie Jackson, Andre Drummond and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope into the game two minutes into the quarter. Bench points wound up 52-30 in Sacramento’s favor.
3-POINTER – Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s return to the lineup gave the Pistons 15 healthy players for the first time in the season’s 46th game. Caldwell-Pope missed five games after injuring his left shoulder running into a Zaza Pachulia pick in the Jan. 12 game at Golden State. He became the fifth Pistons starter to miss time already this season. Reggie Jackson sat out the first 21 games after undergoing a procedure to address left knee tendinosis on Oct. 10. Jon Leuer sat out a mid-December game with back spasms and missed five games this month with a right knee injury. Reggie Bullock missed the season’s first 12 games with back spasms, returned for five games and then missed 25 more after damaging cartilage in his left knee, requiring early-December surgery. Andre Drummond missed one game with a sprained ankle and Marcus Morris sat out a game with knee tendinitis. In addition, Aron Baynes missed two games with a sprained ankle. Rookie Michael Gbinije missed several weeks after suffering a deep bone bruise in his right forearm. He returned to practice last week.
