The Detroit Pistons (14-24) take on the Cleveland Cavaliers (10-27) for the second straight game, and, the third match-up of the year Thursday at 7:00 P.M. In the previous match-up the Pistons pulled out a late comeback to beat the Cavs 115-113. The only difference is that this game will be played in Little Caesars Arena thus giving the slight edge to the Pistons. You’ll want to tune into this one because yet again the Pistons will be starting rookie Sekou Doumbouya who, if you haven’t already heard, has been charged with the murder of Tristian Thompson. Check it out:
oh my dear lord. Sekou Doumbouya wrecks Tristan Thompson and stands over his corpse. pic.twitter.com/2w23V9mB1v
The Pistons pulled off a 12-point comeback to defeat the Cavaliers and improve to 14-24 on the season. Derrick Rose had 24 points and 7 rebounds and led the comeback.
In the first quarter, it looked like the Pistons would pull away and beat a team that’s worse than them. They took low percentage shots, and Cleveland hit their shots at an absurd rate. The Pistons had a lead until 6:37 in the first quarter, but didn’t have the lead back until less than a minute left in the game. Sekou Doumbouya had a poster on Tristan Thompson which went viral. After Drummond hit a buzzer beater and one, the lead was cut down to two.
Cleveland outscored Detroit, 38-27 in the second. They controlled from start to finish in the quarter. Detroit had several costly turnovers, aand that led to the Cavs were up by 13 at the half.
The third quarter was all Kevin Love, he was on fire. No one could guard him and he hit almost every shot. The Pistons were down by 11 going into the fourth. Love had 24 points, four assists, and eight rebounds at the end of the third. Sekou performed well, and was able to not only keep up with, but exceed with NBA starters in his fourth start.
In the fourth, the Pistons fell down 13, and it looked like Detroit would fall to the 10-26 Cavaliers. The comeback was led by Derrick Rose and Andre Drummond, who got some very big rebounds. He had yet another 20-20, with 23 points and 20 rebounds. Rose hit a runner with 27 seconds remaining, and put the Pistons ahead, 114-113. The Cavs were in prime position for a game winner with only a 2 second differential between game clock and shot clock. Sexton had a open lane but was called for stepping out of bounds with 7 seconds left. The play went under review and was overturned, in one of several replays in the fourth quarter. Sexton got the inbound pass but missed the floater, and didn’t hit the rim which resulted in a shot clock violation. Snell inbounded to Drummond, who was immediately fouled with 1.6 seconds remaining. He hit the first free throw and missed the second, which was batted out of bounds by Thon Maker with 0.4 to play. Kevin Love almost had a lob to Tristan Thompson, but the pass was swatted by Drummond.
Tip In: Sekou, “Dr.Doom,” Doumbouya had 15 points and one of the best posters of this NBA season, where he slammed over Tristan Thompson, and hit him with a slight step-over and staredown. Blake Griffin underwent surgery and is expected to be out for the season. Reggie Jackson was re-evaluated and will be nearing a return to basketball activities soon, still no update on Luke Kennard, who is dealing with knee tendinitis.
Up Next: Detroit: Ends a 6 game road trip and faces the Cavs for the second time in three days. Cleveland: Travels to Detroit to play the Pistons again
The Detroit Pistons (13-24) travel to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers (10-26) Tuesday at 7:00 P.M eastern time. The Pistons have lost eight of their last ten while the Cavs are on a three game losing streak and are 3-7 in their last previous ten matches. The youth movement has just begun for the Pistons with Sekou Doumboya getting heavy minutes and Christian Wood also getting a heavy dose, and, with Blake being out it looks like that should continue for the foreseeable future. Speaking of Blake, it was recently reported that he will be faced with the decision to have season ending surgery on his knee. This is devastating for him but just about sums up the Pistons season. Injuries. Injuries. Injuries. It seems as though everyone on the roster is competing to see who can blow their knee up first with Luke Kennard, Christian Wood, and Blake have all having dealt with or are dealing with knee problems. The Cavs are also rumored to have interest in Andre Drummond so hopefully he puts on a great display for them.
Injury Report/Game Info
The Injury report is as follows:
Luke Kennard OUT (Knee)
Blake Griffin OUT (Knee)
Reggie Jackson QUESTIONABLE (Back)
Markieff Morris OUT (Knee)
As far as Game Info goes the game will tip off at 7:00 P.M. EST at Quicken Loans Arena and you can as always watch the game on FSD.
The Lakers hosted a block party on Sunday night, and the Pistons weren’t invited.
Despite the 7-point loss, the Pistons played a solid game against Lebron James, Anthony Davis, and the rest of the star-studded Lakers, but soft layups leading to twenty blocks for the Lakers (the most by an NBA team since Toronto in 2001), untimely turnovers, and some questionable officiating was too much for the Pistons to overcome as they dropped a close one in LA.
The Pistons rolled out another new starting lineup on Sunday, trying to match the height and length of the Lakers. At the guard spots were Tim Frazier and Tony Snell, with rookie Sekou Doumbouya at the 3, and Christian Wood and Andre Drummond at the big man positions. This game was another test for Sekou’s development, being forced to guard future Hall of Famer LeBron James, just nights after Kawhi Leonard and Draymond Green.
The Pistons got off to an extremely slow start, scoring only 2 points in the first 6 minutes, and even falling to a 15-2 deficit at one point early in the first quarter. Seemingly every shot the Pistons went for got blocked by Davis or McGee who combined for 7 blocks in just the first quarter. The Lakers got the loud and hostile Staples Center crowd involved early as well, with three alley-oops. Ultimately a fun quarter for LA, and a bad one for Detroit. Derrick Rose checked in, and the Pistons managed to fight back to just a one point deficit by the end of the quarter, losing 23-22.
The second quarter was relatively uneventful. Good play from former Pistons Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who hit two 3s early, and Avery Bradley who played good some great defense. The Pistons ended the half trailing 56-47.
Unlike the Pistons we know and love, they had a fantastic third quarter, one of the best all season. Derrick Rose put up 8 points in just 6 minutes, while Svi Mykhailiuk went 3-3 from distance, and Langston Galloway scoring a quick 5 points, helping propel the Pistons to a 4 point lead as the quarter ends, outscoring the Lakers 32-19.
The only word used to describe the 4th quarter, would be chaotic. The usual turnovers (4 in the 4th from Svi) and poor transition defense caused the Pistons to fall back to an 11 point deficit. After that, the Pistons went on a 13-1 run led by Derrick Rose, and regained the lead with 5 minutes left. Then, like clockwork, Detroit fell apart again, and lost 106-99.
Andre Drummond had a pretty bad game offensively scoring 12 with 18 rebounds, but on 2-13 from the field (8-9 from the line). Doumbouya didn’t put up fancy numbers, but did very well guarding Lebron, James, and even scored the Pistons’ first basket of the game, blowing right by James with a great cut, proving he is finally NBA ready. Svi had great game offensively, but his untimely turnovers definitely share some of the blame for the loss.
With Reggie Jackson still OUT indefinitely, Kennard and Morris still missing time, and now reports of Blake Griffin considering season-ending knee surgery, the future of the season still looks bleak.
The Pistons finish off their road trip in Cleveland on Tuesday night, taking on Kevin Love and the 10-26 Cavaliers, who are currently on a 4 game losing streak.
Detroit plays their fifth game on the six game road trip tonight against the 28-7 Los Angeles Lakers. As we know the Pistons snapped their three game losing streak last night in Golden State, but now they have their work cut out for them against the best team in the Western Conference.
With Detroit’s young 2019 draft pick Sekou Doumbouya starting these past two games on this trip all signs are pointing that he will start again, although the rookie did play 38 minutes last night which could lead to a lesser of a load tonight.
The Lakers are looking to continue their success and make it five in a row against the Pistons. Realistically the Pistons shouldn’t stand a chance tonight, but I believe us fans have realized it’s not about the wins at this point. It’s clear now that the organization and fans are looking for improvement from the young assets on the roster. With that said, it will definitely be interesting to see how the youngsters in Brown, Doumbouya, and Svi perform against the star stocked Lakers roster.
Overall, this will be a great test for the young Pistons team against the experienced Lakers. Game is scheduled for a 10:00 ET. tip off.
Look for Blake Griffin, Reggie Jackson, Markeiff Morris, Luke Kennard, and Khyri Thomas to all be listed on the injury report later today.
Pistons rookie small forward Sekou Doumbouya (45) posts up Warriors power forward Draymond Green (23) (via Detroit Bad Boys).
Tonight was the match-up of two teams whose seasons have been badly plagued by injuries. Going in to the game, the Pistons were missing key contributors such as Blake Griffin, Luke Kennard, Markieff Morris and still Reggie Jackson. On the flip side, the Warriors are missing Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Deangelo Russell, and Kevon Looney. The game was going to be won with energy; luckily, the Pistons brought that tonight.
For the entirety of the first quarter, both teams were very paced. Patience was key and both teams were exemplifying that. Neither were able to really distance themselves and although the pace did pick up in the second period, the Pistons only trailed by three at halftime. Although they had opened up their offense and they were getting good looks, the defense was suffering by playing up-tempo and the Pistons were allowing Golden State to do pretty much whatever they wanted on offense. Sekou Doumbouya was our leading scorer at the break with 11 points.
Coming out of halftime breaks this season, the Pistons have tended to go cold, which has been one of their biggest problems this season. However, lucky for them they came out in the third this game red hot. The ball movement was incredible, guys were making crisp passes and on top of that the team was playing great defense on the other end of the floor. Golden State started the third only 2/12 from the field, which resulted in Detroit being able to grasp a 77-68 lead with 4:41 remaining in the quarter. Despite this though, an Andre Drummond fifth personal foul and needing him to be subbed out of the game allowed the Warriors to go on a little run and cut the Pistons lead to just three heading into the final period, 83-80.
The Pistons kept their energy high in the final period though, continuing all of the great things they did in the third. With Draymond Green out of the game for Golden State, as he had been ejected late in the third while arguing a foul call (no shocker here), the Pistons were able to put together little runs here and there that were enough to grab a comfortable win over Golden State 111-104. The team played together and showed a clear desire to win this game, which is what they have to do every night if they want to continue winning games while under-manned. Pistons player of the game was rookie Sekou Doumbouya who in his second career start logged 16 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks, was a +19 in 38 minutes of action and snagged his second consecutive double-double.
The teams next contest comes in Los Angeles against the Lakers tonight, 01/05/2020, where they will need even more execution and energy if they want to come out with back-to-back wins.
After coming off a 126-112 loss against the Clippers, the Pistons look ahead to their second game of the decade against the Warriors. Even with substantial injuries of our own, this is still proving to be a favorable match-up for the Pistons against the injury heavy Warriors, who are currently last in the western conference standings with a 9-27 record.
Saturdays injuries(pistons)
Blake griffin: Doubtful (Left knee soreness)
Markieff Morris: Out(foot)
Luke Kennard: Out(knee tendinitis)
Reggie Jackson: Out(back)
Khyri Thomas: Out(foot)
Saturdays injuries (warriors)
Steph Curry: Out (hand)
Klay Thompson: Out (Knee)
D’Angelo Russel: questionable (shoulder)
Kevon Looney: Out(abdomen)
Willie Cauley-Stein: questionable(Illness)
I would expect a starting lineup of Tim Frazier, Svi Mykhailiuk, Sekou Doumboyua, Tony Snell and Andre Drummond. I am looking for Sekou to make another start after his impressive performance against the Clippers, coming up with a double-double in his first NBA start, 10 points and 11 rebounds. Defensively he turned in a stellar performance, guarding Kawhi Leonard. Even amidst foul trouble early he showed tons of promise, outweighing any reservations of starting him.
With Blake likely being out, we will see increased minutes for Christian Wood and with Markieff Morris out, Thon Maker, who surprisingly looked pretty good against the Clippers can expect more play time. Andre Drummond can also expect to see more minutes than he usually does.
Overall I am predicting a win from the Pistons in this one because of the more experienced and better roster we have. With Willie Cauley-Stein questionable this primes Andre to have a massive game, watch for him to really beat up the Warriors on Sunday. All the key injuries the Warriors have I would put my money on the Pistons in this one, but crazier things have happened.
The Pistons lose in the third quarter, sharing similariities with the last two.
The Pistons started Sekou Doumbouya and had been up by 3 at the end of the first quarter. While extremely shorthanded, they still had looked good. There was good ball movement and defense.
The second quarter wasn’t as bad as some would think. The pistons were staying in the game, and were only down six at halftime. Derrick Rose had ten, and Bruce Brown, while dealing with an illness, had 11 points. The Pistons were still fighting, and only were down because Kawhi had caught fire.
At halftime, owner Tom Gores spoke to media about the team. When asked about the direction of the franchise, he said the following, “I think we’re going to reevaluate and we have to as an organization and just taje a look and see what makes sense and then what doesn’t. We have to look at everything because we’re not winning so when you’re not winning to me, you have to assess everything. I thnk anybody would want to do that. And probably in the next month or so,you know, we’re going to get together as an organization and just discuss things.” Gores may be open to rebuild[more about that in an upcoming article], which many fans will be pleased by.
The third quarter mirrored many of the previous collapses, turnovers,lazy defense, and overall poor effort. The Pistons were outscored 37-16 in the third. Coach Casey needs to make adjustments to get the players more engaged during the third quarter. The game got away from the Pistons very quickly at the start of the third quarter. The past three losses, which were not very close, were very similar to this game, and especially the pitiful performance during the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was different than the past two, however, and the young Pistons fought hard. They forced turnovers, made high percentage shots, and drove strong to the basket. Detroit outscored Los Angeles by 13 in the third quarter, and ended on a 32-16 run. Bruce Brown poured in 15, Rose,Snell,Svi and Wood all tipped in 14, while Drummond had 10. Sekou, in his first NBA start, had 10 points and 11 rebounds. The future certainly doesn’t look as bleak as it had.
Decisions will need to be made when it comes to the Pistons, and it needs to be soon, as the trade deadline is approaching fast. What Gores said to media makes it seem like the Pistons may be nearing a rebuild. The Pistons drop to 12-23, but have a favorable schedule in the month of January.
Up next: Los Angeles will take on Memphis on Saturday Detroit will play Golden State on Saturday, in the first game of a back to back
Coming off of arguably the worst performance of the season against the Utah Jazz, the Pistons would hope to bounce back in the following game on January 2nd. Unfortunately for the Pistons, this matchup comes against the LA Clippers, who are currently the 3rd seed in the West. Injuries have been a common factor throughout the season for the Pistons, and they won’t be escaping them in this game.
Tonights Injuries: (Pistons)
F Blake Griffin (Knee) – Doubtful
G Luke Kennard (Knee) – Out
F Markieff Morris (Foot) – Out
G Bruce Brown (Illness) – Questionable
G Reggie Jackson (Back) – Out
G Khyri Thomas (Foot) – Out
Tonights Injuries: (Clippers)
G Patrick Beverley (Wrist) – Out
If Bruce Brown determines he cannot play tonight, expect Tim Frazier to get the start at PG. With Blake Griffin doubtful and Markieff Morris out, both Christian Wood and Thon Maker can expect heavier minutes. With two PFs out, we can expect Andre Drummond to play more than usual, as both Wood and Maker typically play at the C, and will be forced to play alongside Drummond, or each other.
This game would have been an interesting one for Blake Griffin, playing against his former team. Last season when the Pistons played the Clippers, Griffin tallied 44 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists in 40 minutes. Although we haven’t numbers anywhere near that from Griffin this season, if there were a game for him to breakout, it would have been this one.
Throughout the season, Kawhi Leonard has been a reliable player for the Clippers, as he is averaging 25.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 5.2 assists, along with 1.8 steals. Leonard, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, Paul George, a 2018 MVP candidate, and an impressive supporting cast of Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell, and Patrick Beverley, has proven to be one of the best in the NBA, with a record of (24-11). This will likely prove to be one the most difficult games of the season for the Pistons, especially considering the injuries.
It’s about a third of the way into the season and the Pistons are sitting at 12-21 (11th place in the East). The season has been disappointing to say the least. A lot of the team has been injured and losses are piling up. Understandably, fans are upset and desperately want change. However, change may not be the solution to the problem, especially if that change involves massive trades or a “resetting” of the roster.
The Elephant in the Room is the Reason Your Team Sucks
Injuries. It’s an inevitability in sports. Quite a few teams are currently reeling from injuries to significant players, namely Golden State, Portland, and Chicago. Detroit unfortunately got the luck (unluck?) of the draw and has had injuries hit Blake Griffin, Luke Kennard, Reggie Jackson, Derrick Rose, Markieff Morris, Christian Wood, and Tim Frazier over the course of the season so far. To say this team sucks…ehhh…a bit misleading. Yes, the team has had poor play because of injuries, but because there have been injuries since the beginning of the season, there’s no way to tell if this team genuinely doesn’t play well when healthy. The healthiest this team has been was the first game of the season against Indiana, and the stretch when Blake came back and looked pretty good. If we’re judging by those games, then there’s a lot of optimism to be had for a healthy Pistons team. That’s literally the reason this team has played so poorly: unfortunately timed injuries. Not because of drama, or chemistry issues, or lack of talent. This team is built to handle a less than stellar Blake, or a significant injured player, not multiple at the same time. Give it some time. I figure early January is when this team will be at it’s healthiest all season. Even if Blake isn’t 100%, at least he has a healthy team around him to do damage. And maybe it isn’t a good idea to offload the whole team because of this reason. Otherwise…
The Mediocrity Wheel Keeps On Turning
There’s a difference between a team having mediocre talent and a team that is mediocre/bad because of injuries. The Pistons, so far this season, are the latter. To sell low on any current assets means two things:
You will likely have to attach a pick to Blake/Reggie/Derrick because they appear less desirable because of the team’s performance
If you attach a first round pick, you then have to replenish players via free agency if you wish to remain competitive. 8 years of Joe Dumars and Stan Van Gundy should’ve told you that is not how you build a team.
Selling off a bunch of talent at a low price sets the Pistons back 2 or 3 seasons in terms of actually competing. We’re only 33 games into this revamped roster from last year, and less than two seasons into the Blake Griffin experiment. Give it some time. Yeah it’s annoying to have another disappointing season, but once again, this was due to lack of health, not lack of talent. Which brings me to my next point…
Lighten Up, Will Ya?
Looking for optimism across the Pistons’ fanbase is like trying to look at LeBron’s hairline. You end up frustrated, disgusted, and your eyes start to water.
All jokes aside, let’s put some positivity out there. Because of these injuries, the young guys have been able to get some more playing time. Bruce Brown, Svi Mykhailiuk, Thon Maker and Christian Wood have all had chances to show what they can do when given the chance and get more experience. Yes, we all want Sekou to play more, but I trust Casey has a plan and will give Sekou time when he has earned it.
Let’s assume the worst and say the Pistons don’t make the playoffs due to their injury woes. That means lottery time! Now, the lottery doesn’t solve everything, but it does give the Pistons a chance to sign a young, high-upside pick with immediate talent.
It’s one thing if this team was fully healthy and had the same record it does now, but that’s not the case. This team is in the exact same boat as Portland, another team that was expected to do well this season but marred by injuries. Let’s give this team some time and patience, then we’ll really see what this Pistons team is truly capable of.
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Piston Territory 