FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick observations from Sunday night’s 96-79 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers
SLAM DUNK – It was such an obvious trap game you figured it couldn’t possibly qualify for such status. It didn’t help that the season’s first snowstorm meant The Palace was maybe half full and low on energy as the game opened. It didn’t help that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the guy likeliest to breathe life into a defense stuck in mud, sat out with a minor injury. But it really didn’t help that the Pistons met the NBA’s most toothless offense with precious little resistance, allowing back-door layups and open 3-point shots in bunches. Philadelphia hit the Pistons with a 14-0 run to take an early 18-4 lead and it snowballed from there. It ballooned to 25 points in the second quarter and was 23 at halftime, by which time Philly had scored nearly as many points in the paint (34) as the Pistons had scored in total (35). The Pistons didn’t make much headway in the third quarter, but a 14-7 close got them within 16 headed to the fourth. The Pistons had an opening to get back in the game early in the fourth quarter when they held the 76ers scoreless on four straight possessions. But after getting a Reggie Jackson jump shot on the first trip of the quarter, the Pistons missed six straight shots over their next five possessions and Philadelphia stretched the lead back to 19. The Pistons went on an 11-0 run to pull within eight with 4:18 to play, but couldn’t get any closer. Philadelphia native Marcus Morris led the Pistons with a season-high 28 points, but the team shot just 39 percent and shot 1 of 12 from the 3-point line besides Morris’ 4 of 7.
FREE THROW – Stan Van Gundy makes his players wear knee pads in practice. They don’t like it, but he figures it’s one of the few sure ways to diminish nagging injuries along with wearing mouth guards. But he doesn’t insist they wear them in games. And so Kentavious Caldwell-Pope knocked knees in Friday night’s win at Minnesota and suffered a contusion. He was close to being able to play Sunday, but Van Gundy said Pistons director of sports medicine Jon Ishop wasn’t comfortable with signing off. “I would expect we’d have him back Wednesday (at Dallas, the next Pistons game),” Van Gundy said. Darrun Hilliard got the start and probably wishes the game hadn’t been televised in Philadelphia, where he starred for Villanova, a short drive from his hometown of Bethlehem. Hilliard picked up three early turnovers and shot two air balls before coming out midway through the first quarter. He finished with five points and one rebound but no assists or steals and was bypassed after playing less than five minutes to start the third quarter except for mop-up time late. Stanley Johnson, fresh off a 28-point outing Saturday night for the Grand Rapids Drive of the D-League, had a more encouraging outing. Though he didn’t shoot especially well (2 of 8), Johnson was at the heart of the Pistons’ comeback with his defense and passing. He finished with six points, five steals, four assists and two rebounds.
3-POINTER – T.J. McConnell went undrafted out of Arizona the same year his much younger teammate, Stanley Johnson, was taken with the No. 8 pick by the Pistons. He’ll be 25 in March and Sunday was his first start of the season. Nobody had a bigger role in Philadelphia’s first-half performance than McConnell, who by halftime was well on track for a triple-double with six points, six rebounds and nine assists. The Sixers had 19 first-half assists, finishing with 24. They average 22.6 a game. Philadelphia entered the game with the league’s worst-rated offense, 96.4. By contract, the Pistons are 16th with an offensive rating of 103.2. McConnell had much of his success against his former Philadelphia teammate, Ish Smith. McConnell started 17 games for Philadelphia a year ago, but ceded the job to Smith when he was acquired in a Christmas eve trade with New Orleans. McConnell finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. McConnell had a few chances to get his 10th assist down the stretch, but twice his teammates were fouled shooting layups off of McConnell feeds.
