| Detroit Free Press
The 2020-21 NBA season is only two games old, but a pattern is emerging for the Detroit Pistons.
On Wednesday, Detroit didn’t trail the Minnesota Timberwolves until the 3:38 mark of the fourth quarter, and went on to lose despite leading by 14 points in the second quarter.
On Saturday, the Pistons led the Cleveland Cavaliers 101-93 with 4:05 to play. Cleveland responded with an 8-0 run to force overtime, forced a second overtime, and ended up outscoring the Pistons 35-18 the rest of the way.
[ Pistons’ Drummond trade cleared path to Troy Weaver, offseason overhaul ]
The Pistons didn’t open their home schedule the way they wanted, to say the least. Andre Drummond made his return to Little Caesars Arena and helped the Cavaliers leave with a 128-119 victory. Detroit fell to 0-2 on the season.
Drummond finished with 23 points (7-for-21 from the floor), 16 rebounds and five assists in front of a mostly-empty crowd. Collin Sexton led the Cavaliers with 32 points.
Detroit saw strong performances from Jerami Grant (28 points, 9-for-14 from the floor, 4-for-8 from 3, 11 rebounds, three blocks) and Blake Griffin (26 points, six rebounds, four assists, 8-for-16 from 3).
But their offense fell apart late again. Again, it’s only two games with a mostly-new roster. After the game, head coach Dwane Casey and Grant expressed encouragment that they’ve gotten off to strong starts. The Pistons have figured out how to play a strong 3⅓ quarters. Taking care of the ball and continuing to move the ball late would fix several of their issues.
Griffin re-finds his outside touch
During the preseason, Griffin made five of his 21 3-point attempts.
During the season opener Wednesday, Griffin missed all five of his attempts.
Griffin’s 2019-20 season ended early due to knee surgery, and he went nearly a year between games because of it. Detroit’s first preseason game against the Knicks on Dec. 11 was his first NBA action in 349 days. He has mostly looked like his old self, but he still had some rust to work off.
He found his shooting touch again on Saturday, and then some. He hit six of his eight 3-point attempts in the first half, and finished the night 8-for-16. He hit his first 3-pointer three minutes into the game, and you could almost see the fog lift as he grew comfortable.
His fifth 3-pointer came after he missed a shot at the rim, drifted back to the corner and received a slightly off-kilter kick-out from Derrick Rose, who had grabbed the offensive rebound. Griffin nearly fumbled the pass, but recovered and calmly drained the 3 as a defender closed out on him.
He hit his next 3-pointer 33 seconds later, pushing the ball after receiving the inbounds pass and pulling up before the defense could get back. Given that the Pistons’ offense has struggled, his shooting was a key reason why the Pistons had a shot at their first win.
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Grant has a breakout performance
The Cavs threatened to pull away in the third quarter. A layup from Drummond gave them a 78-67 lead at the 5:58 mark.
The Pistons closed the quarter on a 19-5 run, though, largely thanks to Grant. He was a two-way force the entire night, and helped Detroit regain control of the game. He scored 10 of the Pistons’ 19 points during the run, including a deep 31-foot running 3-pointer to end the quarter.
He nearly cost the Pistons the game in the fourth, mistakenly running out the shot clock with five seconds remaining and the game tied at 101. A putback dunk in overtime, followed by a deep 3-pointer to give the Pistons a nine-point lead, made up for his error.
Saturday was his best game in a Detroit uniform, and he and Griffin kept the Pistons afloat until things fell apart at the end.
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Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa. Read more on the Detroit Pistons and sign up for our Pistons newsletter.