For the second game in a row, the Detroit Pistons couldn’t take care of the ball. That, along with poor shooting, made Friday’s loss feel bigger than the final score indicated.
The Pistons fell to the New Orleans Pelicans on the road, 107-101, to fall to 0-2 overall in preseason play. Saddiq Bey finished with 23 points (6-for-17 overall, 5-for-10 from 3) and seven rebounds, Isaiah Stewart had 14 points (5-for-9 overall, 2-for-5 from 3) and seven rebounds, and Jaden Ivey also scored 14 points (2-for-12 overall, 9-for-9 at the line) along with six assists and seven turnovers.
Pelicans backup point guard Jose Alvarado led all scorers with 28 points.
New Orleans was without Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum and Herbert Jones. Detroit struggled anyway, shooting 36.5% from the field and 28.6% from 3. The Pistons could not maintain an offensive rhythm after building an early 20-9 lead, and trailed by as many as 13 in the second half. Cade Cunningham tallied 10 points, eight assists and four rebounds.
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Ivey struggles from floor, shines at line
Ivey’s downhill gravity will create a lot of good things for the Pistons this season. It enabled him reach double-digits for the second-straight game on Friday, as he went 9-for-9 at the free-throw line despite shooting 2-for-12 overall.
He could be a foul-drawing magnet this season, thanks to his size and elite first step. Ivey’s athleticism has immediately translated to the NBA. He’s dangerous in the open floor and can beat most defenders off of the dribble. He’s been a willing passer thus far. Even on off nights, he’ll be a productive player if he continues leveraging his speed the way he did against New Orleans.
Casey tweaks starters, plays two bigs
Presumably to match up against the Pelicans’ Zion Williamson-Jonas Valanciunas frontcourt, Dwane Casey tweaked his starting five to include two bigs. Isaiah Stweart remained, and Bojan Bodganovic was replaced by Marvin Bagley III. Stewart did his part to make the pairing work by knocking down two of his five 3-point attempts. Long term, the Pistons will still have to figure out how such lineups will work defensively in a switch-heavy scheme.
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Jalen Duren didn’t play Friday night and Nerlens Noel is still recovering from plantar fasciitis, so Stewart was Detroit’s lone rotation player who could protect the rim. The Pelicans capitalized, scoring 54 points in the paint. Alvarado repeatedly punished the Pistons by finding wide open lanes to the basket. The issue should improve when Noel gets healthy, or if Duren proves he can defend the paint. It hurt the Pistons on Friday.
Turnovers plague Pistons again
Detroit coughed the ball up 22 times against the Knicks on Tuesday, and have now committed 44 in two games. They created 22 points for the Pelicans on Friday. Ivey finished with seven after committing zero against New York, and Killian Hayes had five.
Teams that have multiple young ballhandlers, as the Pistons do, are going to have turnover issues. Hayes only had five games last season with more than three turnovers, so it’s unlikely to be a recurring issue for him. Many of them were just careless mistakes — mistakes that we’re unlikely to see as often once we get to the regular season. Players frequently mistimed passes or lost track of their teammates.
Ivey will have nights like Tuesday, where he made great reads all night and passed the ball better than the box score suggested. He will also have nights like Friday, where opponents anticipated his passes and he occasionally tried to force lanes to the rim that weren’t there. Like most young guards, taking care of the ball is a growth area.
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa.