FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick observations from Tuesday night’s 102-91 win over the Chicago Bulls
SLAM DUNK – That was a game the Pistons could not afford to lose. Not against a division rival, and a team ahead of them in the standings, playing its fourth game in five nights. And so they didn’t. But it took a lot more than it appeared it might. After a superb first 20 minutes – after which the Pistons led by 17 – an offense that had racked up 18 assists in those 20 minutes and was shooting in the mid to high 50s for most of the half went stagnant and cold. They picked up just two assists in the next 16 minutes and fell behind by four points early in the fourth quarter. But a 12-0 run put them back on top and the Pistons pushed their record back above .500 at 12-11. Foul trouble and Stan Van Gundy’s attempt to keep his starters out of more serious issues late in the second quarter cracked the door for the Bulls. With the Pistons ahead 51-34 and less than four minutes until halftime, Van Gundy staggered pulling all three of Marcus Morris, Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson. With Jimmy Butler carrying Chicago’s offense and the Pistons going seven straight possessions without a point, the Bulls closed the half on a 10-0 run to slice a 17-point deficit to seven. They opened the second half on a 6-0 run to pull within one. Tobias Harris scored 22 points and his basket to put the Pistons up by nine with less than 100 seconds to go iced the win.
FREE THROW – Stan Van Gundy wanted to keep Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade off the foul line as much as possible. So much for that. Biting on pump fakes from two of the league’s best, the Pistons sent each to the line 10 times. Worse, they shot it almost flawlessly. Butler, who averages 9.9 attempts per game, really got himself going in the second quarter when he shot six free throws. He finished 10 of 10 at the line as part of a 32-point night. Wade averages 4.5 free throws a game and he also got there 10 times, making his first nine. Chicago got back in the game at the foul line, hitting 11 of 13 second-quarter free throws. Van Gundy hoped to limit Butler and Dwyane Wade to a combined 15 free-throw attempts. They overshot by five. Wade played after going 35-plus minutes in Monday’s loss to Portland and finished with 19. In his previous back to backs this season, Wade hadn’t fared well, averaging just 8.5 points and shooting 23 percent. Butler played 43 minutes and scored 32 points.
3-POINTER – Reggie Jackson played only 18 minutes and finished with seven points and seven assists, shooting 2 of 9. Ish Smith played the entire fourth quarter and finished with seven points and 10 assists with zero turnovers. The looming question as the Pistons head to Charlotte – just eight days after they beat the Hornets there by 23 to open a three-game road sweep that also saw wins in Boston and Atlanta – if whether Jackson will be able to play on back-to-back nights. “We haven’t decided that yet,” Stan Van Gundy said before Tuesday’s win. That’ll be determined after tonight, probably tomorrow morning after we see how he feels after tonight. There hasn’t been a blanket statement that he won’t play back to backs, but I also haven’t gotten assurances that he will, either.”
