Washington, D.C. — The Pistons are looking to end their first road trip of the season on a positive note after dropping their last two games at New York and Indiana, respectively.
Up next is a matchup with the Wizards, set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, and Detroit coach Dwane Casey wants his team to emphasize the little things, like rebounding and getting back on defense.
The Pistons are tied with the Pacers for seventh in the league in rebounding with 47.7 boards per game, a mark that isn’t far off from the No. 1-ranked Minnesota Timberwolves (56.3).
Pistons center Isaiah Stewart leads the team with 10.7 rebounds per game. Rookie Jalen Duren has shown an innate ability to position him down low with an impressive 7.8 boards as the primary center off the bench.
Earlier this season, Casey said he wanted to see more aggressiveness on crashing the boards from his wings and guards. Third-year forward Saddiq Bey has taken a step forward in the rebounding department and averages exactly eight per game, including a season-high 11 rebounds against the Pacers on Saturday. Rookie guard Jaden Ivey pulled down 10 in his homecoming game against Indiana, which boosted his average to five rebounds per game.
“Of all the things, (rebounding) is a huge positive. (Bey) had 11 rebounds in the last game … so that’s huge. That’s exactly the building pieces we gotta have to build toward winning, and we’re going to win. It’s just a matter of getting all those pieces together. I don’t know if winning is going to come tomorrow, the next day. This group right here is going to be successful and all those things — building the rebounding, building the transition defense when someone falls down, building the pass the way we did (against Orlando — we can’t get bored doing that and that’s a sometimes a hard thing to understand.”
The Pistons might rank in the top 10 in rebounding, but they’ve lost the rebounding battle in all three games. Washington is 20th in the league with 42.3 rebounds per game. Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma (Flint) lead team with eight and seven rebounds per game, respectively.
When the team maintains possession of the rebound, Casey wants them to assess how the defense and make a decision to either push the pace or slowly walk the ball up the court. The decision is in their hands, but the goal is to turn those rebounding opportunities into points on the other end.
“Read the traffic,” Casey said. “If we have numbers, we want to take it but we have to convert. The other night I don’t know how many 3-on-2s and 2-on-1s we didn’t convert. We gotta read that, and that’s what we worked on today. We gotta get something at the other end, whether it’s a layup free throw or 3-point shot. We can’t go and get zero.”
Tuesday’s game is the first of the Pistons’ second back-to-back in less than a week, which concludes with a home game on Wednesday against Atlanta.
Cunningham seeks consistency on offense
Cade Cunningham reached the 20-point mark for the first time this season against the Pacers with 22 points and a 12-point fourth quarter.
The second-year guard attempted a season-high 19 field goals and eight 3-pointers, converting on four triples. When asked about his aggressiveness after the game, Cunningham said he felt better with his shot selection and desires to maintain that level on offense.
“I finally made a couple, but it’s about being consistent with it and continuing to grow,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham is averaging 18.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and seven assists per game. His shooting splits are 39.3% from the field, 35% from the beyond the arc, and 80% from the free-throw line.
His main takeaways through the first three games on where he could improve the most is on the defensive end and knocking down more shots.
“I feel like I was super inconsistent and inefficient last year,” Cunningham said. “That was one of my problems, just staying efficient throughout. (Saturday) was a little bit better, but I just have to keep going.”
Pistons at Wizards
▶ Tipoff: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Capital One Arena, Washington D.C.
▶ TV/radio: Bally Sports Detroit Plus/950 AM
▶ Outlook: The Wizards are looking to bounce back after a tough overtime loss to the Cavaliers on Sunday. Wizards guard Bradley Beal leads the team in scoring with 23 points per game and 6.3 assists per game. Flint native Kyle Kuzma is second on the team in scoring with 19.7 points and makes 40% of his 3-pointers.
mcurtis@detroitnews.comTwitter: @MikeACurtis2