FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick observations from Wednesday night’s 101-92 loss to the Sacramento Kings
SLAM DUNK – The Pistons are getting pretty good at digging out of big holes but too consistent at putting themselves there in the first place. The comeback from 18 down in the third quarter to win at Portland on Sunday was rousing and the rally to cut a 17-point third-quarter deficit to four at Golden State was admirable even if it fell short when Reggie Jackson took a knee to the thigh and didn’t get the chance to replicate his 26-point fourth quarter at Portland. But a 19-point deficit in the fourth quarter at Sacramento was insurmountable, even if the Pistons made it interesting by peeling it back to five points with about four minutes left. They didn’t score on their next eight possessions, though, and Sacramento – just as the Kings looked ready to crack – was let off the hook. DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay combined for 42 points by making 16 of 20 shots in the first half. The Kings shot better than 60 percent for three quarters but opened the door for the Pistons via turnovers, committing 19. But the Pistons, too, were careless with the ball, committing 16 turnovers, including two during their late offensive drought. Andre Drummond finished with 14 points and 17 rebounds, his eighth straight double-double to start the season.
FREE THROW – In winning back-to-back Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors and averaging nearly 20 points and 20 rebounds through the first seven games, Andre Drummond surely grabbed the attention of the basketball world – including USA Basketball officials charged with selection the 2016 United States Olympic team, no doubt. The incumbent center for Team USA is Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins, so that was the subplot to Wednesday’s Pistons-Kings game: the Drummond-Cousins matchup. Cousins showed the evolution of his game in dramatic fashion in Wednesday’s first half, doing most of his damage from the perimeter – including an improbable 4 of 5 from the 3-point line. Cousins finished with 33 points and nine rebounds. Drummond picked up two fouls in the first quarter and didn’t get into any kind of rhythm or the sort of dominant rebounding streak that’s typified his early season, getting to halftime with just two points and five boards. He had more snap in his body after halftime to get to 14 and 17. Interestingly, Stan Van Gundy switched his power forwards – first Ersan Ilyasova, later Anthony Tolliver – on to Cousins in the second half and had Drummond guard rookie Willie Cauley-Stein.
3-POINTER -The Pistons went into the 2013 draft fixated on addressing their lack of athleticism on the wings. The guy they’d targeted all season – in fact, the player they might very well have taken if they’d gotten the No. 1 pick in the lottery – was Kansas shooting guard Ben McLemore, compared often to a young Ray Allen. The Pistons had the eighth pick, and McLemore kept slipping down to them. The slide stopped one pick ahead of them when Sacramento took McLemore seventh. The Pistons had warmed to Georgia’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope since the May draft combine, though, and had arranged a surreptitious meeting with him the previous week. They came out of it relieved to land one of the pair, fearful Minnesota – picking behind them and also known to be in pursuit of an athletic wing player – would trade ahead of them. Two-plus seasons later, Caldwell-Pope is off to a much better start than McLemore. Caldwell-Pope is solidly entrenched as a starter, averaging 14.9 points and playing 38 minutes a game. McLemore went into Wednesday’s matchup averaging less than half as many minutes (17.8) and points (5.9), playing behind journeyman James Anderson. Caldwell-Pope didn’t have a great shooting game – 5 of 14, 2 of 6 from the 3-point line – but finished with 15 points in 40 minutes. McLemore played three scoreless first-half minutes.
