On the road, going up against a superior team and with a depleted roster it was going to take a complete team effort for 48 minutes to win this basketball game; boy were the Pistons ready for that challenge.
Detroit started off the game strong. Head coach Dwane Casey elected to start Derrick Rose tonight as opposed to bringing him off the bench which greatly increased the activity within the starting group. One player among the beneficiaries of Rose being inserted into the starting lineup was Piston’s rookie Sekou Doumbouya who had 9 points as the Pistons held a 27-24 lead to close out the opening quarter.
The second quarter was the definition of a ‘dog fight’. Both teams trading blows, playing with very high intensity and neither were willing to back down. One player to rise to the occasion in the second for the Pistons was Markieff Morris. After coming off an injury that had sidelined him for a couple of weeks, he was looking great and keeping the Pistons in the lead as he had 15 points in the second quarter and would close out the half as the team’s leading scorer. The game was dead-locked at 57 when Boston’s Gordon Hayward was able to get a fallaway jumper to go with 1.2 seconds left in the half which gave them a two point advantage heading into the break.
Despite trailing to start off the second half, the Pistons came out of the break ultra aggressive and scorching hot. The fight and effort was still there for both teams midway through the third but Detroit was gaining some momentum; Bruce Brown was able to connect with Sekou for an alley-oop slam and Svi was able to get off a quick corner three which gave the Pistons a six point advantage, 82-76 with 2:42 to go in the third. It looked like it was going to remain a six point lead heading into the final quarter when Svi launched a buzzer-beating bank-shot from beyond half-court to stretch the lead to nine, 91-82, going into the final 12 minutes.
Although the team has struggled recently to close out games, tonight was not that night. To open the fourth quarter, Detroit’s ball movement was superb, everyone was scoring efficiently and Brad Stevens (Boston’s head coach) was forced to take a timeout as he saw his team down 16 with 8:31 to go. That lead for the Pistons would not go anywhere as they were able to effectively close out the game and secure themselves a 13 point victory over one of the top current teams in the league.
Svi Mykhailiuk had himself a career night (21 points), Sekou Doumbouya also had his career high in his young NBA career (24 points on 77% shooting), Markieff Morris provided great production off the bench (23 points on 9/14 FG), and Derrick Rose did Derrick Rose things (22 points 6 assists). The Pistons were able to put together an effective and efficient performance against one of the better teams in the NBA on the road and come away with a win in what was surely the team’s best performance on the season.
The Piston’s next contest comes on Saturday, January 18, against the Hawks in Atlanta, where the team will look to start what is hopefully a string of wins.
Piston Territory 