| Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Pistons trailed by 28 points in the second quarter and by 27 in the third, but cut the deficit to four late in the fourth.
They got no close, though, losing to the Utah Jazz, 117-105, on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City.
A pair of 3-pointers by Bojan Bogdanovic in the final 2 minutes sealed the win for Utah. Jerami Grant finished with 27 points, four assists, four rebounds and three blocks. Josh Jackson scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds off of the bench, and Mason Plumlee had a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
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Donovan Mitchell led Utah with 32 points.
Start slow, finish strong
Similar to their performance against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, the Pistons got out to a slow start against the Jazz. They trailed, 31-22, after the first quarter and shot just 33.3% (7-for-21 overall). Utah entered halftime with a 69-46 advantage.
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The second half was a different story. The Pistons outscored the Jazz, 31-25, in the fourth, and used an extended run in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to four, 109-105, with around 2 minutes remaining in the quarter. From the 5:14 mark of the third quarter to the 2:06 mark of the fourth, Detroit outscored Utah, 45-22.
Grant helped to spearhead the run, scoring 20 of his 27 points in the second half.
Rose sits, McGruder fills in
Derrick Rose has been a staple in the Pistons’ rotation this season. He’s missed games due to knee soreness and rest, but otherwise has appeared in every game in which he’s been healthy.
That changed on Wednesday. Rose wasn’t on the pregame injury report and made the trip to Salt Lake City, but didn’t play. It wasn’t clear why Rose picked up his first DNP of the season, but Rodney McGruder — who had only appeared in four games this season — played in his stead.
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McGruder logged 16 minutes and hit two of his five shot attempts, including a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter that extended a 14-4 run for Detroit and cut the deficit to 96-82.
Jackson has best performance in weeks
Since returning from an ankle injury on Jan. 8, Jackson’s performance has been inconsistent. He had one of his best performances of the season against the Warriors last week, tallying 17 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes.
He topped that against the Jazz with his second 20-point outing of the season, and first since Dec. 28. Jackson was aggressive out of the gate and had 10 points at halftime, the second-most on the team. He provided a consistent offensive lift on a night where it seemed the Pistons couldn’t get much going — at least until midway through the third quarter.
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa.