Detroit — Early in the third quarter, Chris Paul threaded a pass between Isaiah Stewart and Jalen Duren to find DeAndre Ayton for an easy dunk.
It was a common theme of defensive miscues as the Pistons suffered a 116-100 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night.
The defeat marked Detroit’s second loss to the Suns this season. They suffered a 108-102 loss in Phoenix on Nov. 25.
Detroit trailed by 17 and made a run in the third quarter, but it was answered by a scoring binge by the Suns, who were led by Ayton’s 31 points and 16 rebounds.
Miles Bridges added 24 points, while Cam Johnson had 20 points. Torrey Craig couldn’t miss from 3-point range, making all four of his shots from distance to finish with 14 points.
The Pistons were led by Saddiq Bey, who tallied 25 points, five rebounds and four assists off the bench. Bojan Bogdanovic added 23 points and three rebounds. Isaiah Stewart had a solid outing and found his shooting groove with 17 points and nine rebounds.
BOX SCORE: Suns 116, Pistons 100
Jaden Ivey, who was arguably coming off the most efficient game of his rookie season, finished with 13 points and six assists. He totaled three turnovers, including back-to-back giveaways in the fourth quarter.
Saturday’s game was the second of a back-to-back (their first home back-to-back) after the Pistons beat the Charlotte Hornets the night before. Of their 13 wins, Detroit has only been able to put together back-to-back victories once this season — a couple of road wins against the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz in November.
Before the game, Pistons coach Dwane Casey attributed the inconsistency to the team’s inexperience.
Here are a few more observations from Saturday’s loss:
▶DeAndre Ayton dominates: There wasn’t much that Detroit could do to keep Ayton at bay on Saturday. The 6-foot-11 center only missed two of his 15 shots and only one of his six free throws. The majority of his baskets were assisted by Chris Paul, who made it his mission to make sure Ayton took advantage of the size disparity. Paul only scored two points, but dished out a game-high 14 assists.
▶Isaiah Stewart regains rhythm: Stewart, desperately needing to snap out of a 3-point drought, found some relief against the Suns. Before Saturday’s game, Stewart had missed his last 18 shots from 3-point range, so he was overdue for at least one triple to go through the net. He missed the mark on his first five shots from beyond the arc, but connected on three in the third quarter. At several points during the early stages of the game, Phoenix dared Stewart to shoot from distance, so he made a few drives to the basket that resulted in either a dunk or an and-one finish. Now that Stewart has seen the ball go through the hoop a few times, he should be able to maintain some consistency.
▶Foul trouble for Duren: One of the pitfalls of starting two centers in the same game is the risk of either getting into foul trouble with no relief on the bench. That happened Saturday night as Jalen Duren was called for three early fouls, which limited his production for the entire game. He finished with just one point, four rebounds and four personal fouls. Duren has become so consistent that when he does struggle, it’s somewhat difficult to believe. But he is still the youngest player in the league, and figuring out the game in real-time. There will be nights like these, but they’re usually followed by a big outing the next game.
Saben Lee returns to Detroit: WIth Cameron Payne unavailable due to a right foot sprain, the Suns decided to sign the former Pistons guard to a two-way contract following his two 1-day contracts with the team. He entered the game for the first time at the 3:11 mark of the first quarter, and got his first assist not too long after that when he tracked down a loose ball to find a trailing Damion Lee for a 3-pointer. He only totaled four points, all of which came at the free-throw line.
Mat Ishbia’s homecoming: Matt Ishbia, the CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, sat courtside for Saturday’s game to cheer on what will likely become his new team in the coming week. The Birmingham native and former Michigan State point guard is expected to become the new majority owner of the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury. Ishbia sat courtside with his children and was greeted by several Pistons staffers, including senior advisor of player development John Beilein and assistant coach Jim Moran.
mcurtis@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @MikeACurtis2