Three quick observations from Saturday night’s 104-101 loss to the Denver Nuggets
SLAM DUNK – That killer jump shot Danilo Gallinari hit with Marcus Morris in his face and the shot clock blaring with the ball in the air to beat the Pistons wouldn’t have mattered if they hadn’t given up 39 points in the third quarter. That’s one way to look at Saturday’s bitter loss to Denver. If you saw the first half at New Orleans, that was the third quarter at Denver. The Pistons led by nine at halftime and by as much as 14 before that, playing stingy defense and limiting Denver to 35 percent shooting. Then the Nuggets opened the second half by making 11 of 12 shots and 16 of 23 overall during a 39-point outburst – the highest-scoring quarter against the Pistons this season. They led by 10 to start the fourth when the Pistons went on a 14-2 run to regain the lead. The Pistons led by a point when Reggie Jackson fed Aron Baynes for a layup with 48 seconds to play, but Gallinari hit his jump shot on the next possession to put Denver back in front. Jackson had two driving layup tries to put the Pistons back ahead, but both times missed tough shots in traffic. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope gave the Pistons a second chance to win it with his chase-down block of Emmanuel Mudiay’s layup try. Gallinari fnished with 30 for Denver. Marcus Morris hit 7 of 10 shots and led the Pistons with 20 points.
FREE THROW – The Pistons came into the game for the most part a team that doesn’t beat itself. They ranked in the top 10 in both turnovers and fouls, ninth in turnovers at 13.9 a game and eighth in fouls at 19 a game. But troubles in both areas allowed Denver to stay in a game in which it was badly outshot and outrebounded. The Pistons led by nine at halftime despite shooting 53 percent to Denver’s 35 percent and outrebounding the Nuggets 32-15 – and the rebounding edge came despite the fact Andre Drummond was limited by foul trouble to less than eight first-half minutes. The Nuggets shot 16 free throws before the Pistons got to the line for the first time, Marcus Morris getting there with 6:17 left in the half. Danilo Gallinari was 8 of 9 at the line in the first quarter alone, finishing 13 of 16. The foul situation evened out eventually, but Denver outscored the Pistons 24-10 at the foul line and 23-11 in points off of turnovers.
3-POINTER – The Pistons haven’t had many practices available to them lately in a schedule filled with games and that’s the case for the 17 days leading to the All-Star break, too, with 10 more games wedged into that time frame. So Stan Van Gundy hasn’t had the opportunity yet to tinker with a Reggie Jackson-Brandon Jennings backcourt combination and it might not be happening any time soon. “I haven’t had much need, as well, with as well as both (Kentavious Caldwell-) Pope and Stanley (Johnson) are playing,” he said before Saturday’s game. “It’s in the back of my mind, but not in the front of my mind, the way those guys are playing.” Then there’s the imminent return of Jodie Meeks, who is scheduled to participate in Sunday’s practice in Utah and could be cleared to play in a week or so. “I don’t think (Meeks’ return) complicates it because we don’t know where he’ll be,” Van Gundy said. “What complicates it is Stanley’s been playing well off the bench, Pope’s been playing well as a starter, so I haven’t seen the need. And Stanley and Pope are two of our better defenders, too. Just not a real need right now.”
