Stan Van Gundy might try his hand at meteorology. Because he sensed the perfect storm coming.
Or a most imperfect storm, more like it.
“I've been at this a long time and it was pretty predictable that we weren't going to be ready to play,” he said about Sunday's loss to Philadelphia in which the Pistons trailed 32-12 after one quarter. “I should've known better.”
Van Gundy was going to give the team either Saturday or Monday off with their next game not until Wednesday at Dallas. Given the late arrival from Minneapolis after their win there Friday, he opted to take off Saturday. Then Mother Nature concocted the first snowstorm of the season and forced another change of plans. Instead of conducting their typical 9 a.m. walk through at the team practice facility for a 6 p.m. start, Van Gundy pushed it back to a 3 p.m. session at The Palace.
“We didn't want them coming out twice.”
He regrets that call.
“We weren't ready. And to hell with the weather. I should've brought 'em in, anyway. We just were not ready to play and that was completely predictable. … We should've had them in here and getting their minds ready. A bad coaching mistake, especially one where I knew it. I knew it even as I was doing it. We just didn't want to make them go out in the weather, go back home, come back in the weather again. I should never be that nice.”
The one player who seemed unaffected by the disruption from the norm was Marcus Morris, who hit 10 of 16 shots and 4 of 7 from the 3-point line in scoring a season-high 28 points.
“Interestingly, he's the one guy – he came in on his own yesterday morning,” Van Gundy said. “Came in here, got his shooting, staying in his normal game-day routine. That was just a dumb coaching move.”
On another night, perhaps the Pistons could have been saved by the home crowd. But the weather kept many off the roads. The Palace was about one-third full and they had little to stir them into pandemonium until the dying minutes when the Pistons cut what had been a 25-point deficit to eight with four minutes to play.
“It would've been a miracle and, quite honestly, I would obviously have taken it, but from a basketball perspective it would've been a travesty,” Van Gundy said. “We absolutely did not deserve to win that game. We played hard in the second half and defended 'em a lot better, but when you take 24 minutes off it's going to be difficult.”
The Pistons crammed at least a month's worth of inefficiency and gaffes into 48 minutes. Within the span of a few minutes, the Pistons muffed three breakaway layup opportunities – Jon Leuer fumbled a Philadelphia turnover out of bounds as he headed the other way; Andre Drummond overthrew a wide-open Stanley Johnson; Drummond took off too early and had to flip up an underhanded runner that missed – and then saw a Philadelphia pass deflected off of Johnson's arm wind up as a 76ers basket.
“So we had three like, basically nobody between us and the basket fast breaks, and we converted none of 'em,” Van Gundy said. “It was just … it was unbelievable. By that point, it was karma. We hadn't come to play and so by that point, it was karma.”
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who missed Sunday's game with a right knee contusion, returned to practice and is expected to play Wednesday at Dallas. He was injured when he banged knees late in the third quarter of Friday's win. Van Gundy makes his players wear knee pads during practice but leaves it to them on game day. Caldwell-Pope won't need his arm twisted any longer. “I've got to wear them from now throughout the whole season,” he said. “We'll see how that goes. I'm just not used to them. I haven't worn knee pads since, like, I don't know.” Why doesn't Van Gundy mandate they be worn in games? “You don't want to give them excuses. 'Well, I feel slow. Whatever.' But I did ask him to please wear them, which I think he will now. Some guys do. I watch them out here every day. I don't think they're inhibiting anybody's quickness.”
He was injured when he banged knees late in the third quarter of Friday's win. Van Gundy makes his players wear knee pads during practice but leaves it to them on game day. Caldwell-Pope won't need his arm twisted any longer.
“I've got to wear them from now throughout the whole season,” he said. “We'll see how that goes. I'm just not used to them. I haven't worn knee pads since, like, I don't know.”
Why doesn't Van Gundy mandate they be worn in games?
“You don't want to give them excuses. 'Well, I feel slow. Whatever.' But I did ask him to please wear them, which I think he will now. Some guys do. I watch them out here every day. I don't think they're inhibiting anybody's quickness.”
