Tag Archives: Pistons

Sports

How Detroit Pistons’ Saddiq Bey had one of the best rookie games ever

Leave a comment

CLOSE

Detroit Pistons coach Dwane Casey addresses reporters after his team’s win vs. the Boston Celtics on Feb. 12, 2021.

Detroit Free Press

Saddiq Bey had an all-time performance as a Detroit Pistons rookie on Friday.

He scored 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, leading the way to a 108-102 upset victory over the Boston Celtics, an Eastern Conference finalist contender.

Bey hit 10 of his 12 shot attempts, and all seven of his attempts from the 3-point line, setting a franchise record for 3s made by a rookie. He also became the first rookie in NBA history to make at least seven 3-pointers in a game without a miss, according to ESPN Stats & Info,  

ANOTHER ROOKIE: Isaiah Stewart was pressed into starting role, and he keeps on impressing

On a night where Jerami Grant struggled offensively, Bey comfortably stepped up and delivered the best game of his young career. He didn’t make a big deal about it. 

“I’m happy we got the win, for sure,” Bey said after Friday’s win in Boston. “This is a blessing to play this game each and every day for a living. I try to stay even-keeled as much as possible, stay humble, but know that I gotta continue to build off of it and help my team win. That’s the kind of mentality I have because there’s so many games.” 

Head coach Dwane Casey added that Bey decided to get in a workout immediately after the game. Bey has been described by his teammates as having a veteran’s mentality, and his workman-like approach has paid dividends for him this week after an extended shooting slump. 

Bey was the first of Detroit’s three first-round picks to have a breakout game this season, and it coincidentally happened against the Celtics. On Jan. 1, in his second career start, he scored a then-career high 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds to help guide the Pistons to a 96-93 victory, their first of the season. Through his next eight games, he hit 43.8% of his 3-pointers.

SHAWN WINDSOR: Many laughed when Jerami Grant signed with Pistons. Who’s laughing now?

Then his slump hit. From Jan. 18 to Feb. 6, Bey shot 29.4% overall, 21.9% from 3 and only hit seven of his 32 attempts from deep. Neither he or the coaching staff panicked. Ups-and-downs are expected for a rookie, and the best cure for a shooting slump is to keep shooting. 

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Last SlideNext Slide

“Coaches just said to keep continuing to work,” Bey said. “Nobody really talked about making or missing shots. It’s just focusing on the game plan and trying to get stops and trusting your ability. Try to keep it simple, man. Never try to complicate things. Keep it simple and continue to work.” 

He snapped his slump in a big way Friday. His first shot, a 3-pointer in the first quarter, was routine. Toward the end of the quarter, he drove from the left corner and backed down Grant Williams for a layup — a move that hasn’t been consistent for him this season. 

Midway through the second quarter, he rose for a dunk in transition and finished while being fouled by Williams. From there, he didn’t miss another shot. He drained three 3-pointers in the second quarter, two in the third and his final one with about 38 seconds left to give the Pistons a 101-95, game-clinching lead. 

It capped a strong week for Bey, as he scored 15 points, all in the fourth quarter, against the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday and made all six of his shot attempts. The Pistons are optimistic that his slump is fully behind him now. 

CLOSE

Detroit Pistons rookie Saddiq Bey talks to media Feb. 12, 2021, after his first 30-point performance in the NBA led to a win vs. the Boston Celtics.

Detroit Free Press

“He’s a special competitor,” Casey said. ”He didn’t lose confidence and he stayed with it, stayed with it. Once he gets his feet set, he’s one of those guys that you feel good when he lets it go.

“He believes in himself, we believe in him and he’s just scratching the surface. I told him after the game, stay hungry, stay humble and he is, matter fact he’s in there getting a workout in right now. I’m very happy for him and the rest of the team to bounce back and show a lot of guts, a lot of pride and a lot of stick to it as a group.”

Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa.



Read original article here

Sports

Detroit Pistons’ cold night shooting leads to 111-95 loss to Pacers

Leave a comment

CLOSE

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Last SlideNext Slide

After pulling off an upset win against the Brooklyn Nets at home on Tuesday, the Detroit Pistons weren’t able to carry that momentum against the Indiana Pacers Thursday.

The Pacers defeated the Pistons, 111-95, behind a strong night from Domantas Sabonis (26 points, eight rebounds and eight assists). Detroit shot a season-worst 17.9% from 3 (5-for-28), marring an otherwise solid offensive night. 

Josh Jackson continued his hot streak, scoring 18 points to go with eight rebounds and four assists off of the bench. Isaiah Stewart added 17 points, seven rebounds, two steals and a block in his first career start, and Blake Griffin finished with 16 points, six assists and three rebounds. 

THE NEW GUY: Here’s what the Pistons are looking for from Dennis Smith Jr.

Stewart impresses in first start

The Pistons were already shorthanded at center entering Thursday’s game. The team announced on Wednesday that Jahlil Okafor will miss six to eight weeks after surgery on his left knee. Dwane Casey has mostly stuck with a two-man center rotation with Mason Plumlee and Stewart in recent weeks, but Okafor still filled a valuable role as insurance for when Stewart got in foul trouble. 

Detroit ended up being thinner at center than expected, as Plumlee was a late scratch with bursitis in his right elbow. It propelled Stewart into the starting lineup for the first time, and his first start was impressive. His 17 points were a career-high. 

His defensive impact and overall energy was felt early. He bothered Sabonis enough to make him miss two early post-ups, and Stewart scored consecutive buckets of his own — a layup after grabbing the offensive rebound, and a dunk after a roll to the rim — to increase the lead to 11-4 midway through the first. 

[ Jerami Grant likely will need coaches to vote him into All-Star Game ]

In the second quarter, Stewart made a play that summed up his entire game. He blocked a Sabonis layup attempt, and then outran the entire Pacers defense in transition. He lifted his hand when he had a clear path to the rim, and Josh Jackson sent him a long outlet pass for a dunk. It happened in the midst of a 9-0 Pistons run, and helped Detroit tie the game at 52 at halftime after trailing by nine after the first quarter. 

Plumlee’s absence forced Sekou Doumbouya, who spent time as a small-ball five during the offseason, and Blake Griffin to logged minutes at center. Neither were able to offer much defensive resistance against Sabonis and Myles Turner, but Doumbouya was impactful as a rebounder, grabbing six in 16 minutes. 

CLOSE

Pistons’ Dennis Smith Jr. said he just watched the Bad Boys documentary for 10th time, and why he’s ‘super excited’ to be in Detroit, Feb. 10, 2021.

Detroit Free Press

Smith makes his Pistons debut 

Casey said on Wednesday that he intended to get Dennis Smith Jr. minutes on Thursday. Smith said he had an “enthusiastic” first day of practice Wednesday, and there’s an immediate need for him at the backup point guard. 

Smith made his debut with the Pistons at the beginning of the second quarter and played 13 minutes. He scored his only bucket at the 10:04 mark of the fourth quarter, and finished the night with two points and two rebounds on 1-for-4.

It could take some time for him to get comfortable. He only had one day of practice, appeared in just three games with the New York Knicks and Casey said his conditioning needs to pick up. As his comfort level increases, his minutes could as well. 

Pistons can’t overcome cold night from outside

Entering Thursday, NBA teams were 1-8 overall this season when making five or fewer 3-pointers on at least 25 attempts. The Pistons increased that loss total to nine. 

Detroit shot 5-for-28 from behind-the-arc, the biggest reason why they suffered a rare blowout loss. They otherwise shot a respectable 44.7% overall. The Pistons didn’t make their first 3-pointer until Bey’s early in the second quarter. It was their worst night of the season from outside. 

Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa.



Read original article here

Sports

Los Angeles Lakers take stock after loss to Detroit Pistons

Leave a comment

Mark the calendar: It was nine days into a seven-game road trip before the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers showed any sign of being vulnerable this season, in Thursday’s 107-92 loss to the Detroit Pistons.

L.A. mustered just 34 points in the second half — the fewest the Lakers have scored in any half since LeBron James joined the franchise in 2018 — and was outscored 25-14 in the fourth quarter by a Pistons team that came into the night with the second-worst record in the league at 4-14.

The Lakers went scoreless for nearly seven minutes — from the 8:40 mark in the fourth quarter until there was 1:50 on the clock — as the Pistons’ lead ballooned from one to 17. L.A. went on an 0-for-12 drought with two turnovers as Detroit took control.

“I think we just weren’t connected defensively at the level we were kind of supposed to be,” said Kyle Kuzma, whose 22 points and 10 rebounds were spoiled by the Lakers’ late collapse. “Individually, everybody made mistakes and collectively with those made the team defense suffer a little bit.”

That team defense, which was ranked No. 1 in the NBA going into Thursday, played without Anthony Davis, last season’s Defensive Player of the Year runner-up, who was out with a bruised right thigh.

Whatever explanation might have existed for the poor showing, be it the absence of Davis, the accumulation of road weariness or the challenge of a back-to-back, James didn’t want to hear it.

“I mean, we still have games to be played, work to be done,” he said. “We got to continue to get better, and you can’t really get your mind into the grasp of how many days you are on the road or whatever the case may be. Every team does it. Every team hits a long road trip. We’re professionals.

“We got to keep our minds fresh, keep our bodies fresh as much as we can to go out there and put together a complete 48-minute game, or close to 48 minutes. Obviously we haven’t done it the last couple of games, and we just got to be better on Saturday.”

Coach Frank Vogel challenged last year’s Lakers team not to drop consecutive games all season, and it has remained a part of the team culture this year. L.A. made it more than a quarter of the way through the season before failing the mission, losing to Detroit a night after falling in Philadelphia.

The back-to-back losses also marred the Lakers’ perfect 10-0 road record to begin the season, which had set a franchise record. They’re now 10-2, with games in Boston on Saturday and Atlanta on Monday to finish out the road trip.

While no one sounded the alarm, both Kuzma and James lamented how the Lakers are still trying to find a set rotation, and because of a lack of practice time, end up experimenting with new lineups in the games.

“We’re a brand-new team,” Kuzma said. “We’re playing like 14 people. It’s a tough situation. Obviously, we’re working through things. The coaching staff is trying to figure out rotations and figure out what works with what best, what players can play certain lineups. And that’s just the point of the season we’re in.”

Kuzma provided a 10,000-foot perspective, saying that losses — even bad ones like Thursday’s — are “just the beauty of the journey” and the regular season is meant to be a rehearsal to work out the kinks before the playoffs, anyway. And, as the Lakers’ road trip stretches beyond a week and a half, he acknowledged the very real challenge of constant travel. “It’s still a pandemic out here,” he said.

Vogel put the performance on himself, saying he has to do a better job of putting his players in a position to be successful, but ultimately chalked the night up as something that won’t faze his team.

“We’ll be fine,” Vogel said. “You have nights like this in a long season. We’ll be fine. We’ll bounce back. Not happy, none of us are happy with how we played tonight, but we’ll bounce back.”

Read original article here

Sports

3 observations after Sixers grind out road win over Pistons behind Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid

Leave a comment

Last season, an away game against a less talented opponent following two encouraging wins over an Eastern Conference foe would likely have been a problem for the Sixers. They lost several frustrating games that fit that description or were very close to it. 

While it wasn’t easy, the team didn’t replicate that trend and took care of business Saturday night in Detroit, beating the Pistons by a 114-110 score and moving to 12-5. 

Detroit was without No. 7 overall pick Killian Hayes (right hip strain) Blake Griffin (left knee injury management) and Derrick Rose (left knee soreness). Vincent Poirier and Mike Scott remained out for the Sixers because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols and right knee swelling, respectively. 

The Sixers will stay in Detroit to play the Pistons again Monday night. Here are observations on their win to open the mini-series: 

Simmons thrives, makes up for bench’s off night 

Like Joel Embiid on Friday night, Ben Simmons had a strong start interrupted by foul trouble. Before being called for his second foul with 4:56 left in the first period, he posted eight points, three rebounds and two assists, driving downhill effectively. 

For a second consecutive game, the Sixers’ bench players didn’t fare well during their time on the floor late in the first and early in the second period, making sloppy mistakes that helped the Pistons prosper in transition. Though the Sixers have gotten valuable performances from their bench early in the season, the team’s all-second unit lineups have sometimes looked shaky.

 

All told, the Sixers’ bench was outscored 55-23 by Detroit’s second unit. 

Dwight Howard did his best to provide physicality and energy but was called for an offensive foul when he fought for an offensive rebound and Pistons rookie Isaiah Stewart ripped off a portion of his shorts. The veteran big man picked up a technical foul for arguing the perplexing call, as you can see in the video above. 

As for Simmons, he resumed his aggressive offensive mindset after that foul trouble-induced stint on the bench. He scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half, adding nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals in a characteristically diverse performance. 

With a 10-for-12 performance at the foul line, Simmons has now made 65.9 percent of his free throws this season. 

Simmons’ primary defensive assignment was Jerami Grant. While the Process Era Sixer has been having by far his most productive NBA season, he had a poor night against Simmons and the Sixers, scoring 11 points on 3-for-19 shooting. It’s certainly not the first time one of Simmons’ matchups has had a subpar game.

Even if missed open shots are part of what went wrong for Grant, it’s no coincidence that Simmons often makes the opposition’s top offensive threat look much less potent than he typically does. Simmons swallowed Grant up on one especially impressive third-quarter possession, mirroring his moves on the baseline, knocking the ball loose and forcing a jump ball. If he stays healthy, Simmons seemingly has the talent to rack up All-Defensive First Team honors year after year. 

Overmatched against Embiid, again 

Almost every time Embiid plays, it seems obligatory to note that he has an advantageous matchup, as if to indicate that his prodigious output comes with a significant caveat. When that’s the case so often, though, it says something about how difficult Embiid is to defend. The apparent formula for slowing him down is double teaming at the right times, making him take contested mid-range shots and avoiding fouls. It’s all much easier said than done.

Miles Plumlee, Stewart and former teammate Jahlil Okafor were the players tasked with guarding Embiid, who was listed as questionable leading into the game because of back tightness. None had any convincing answers against the three-time All-Star, though Embiid wasn’t quite as sharp or efficient as during the Sixers’ mini-series sweep over the Celtics. He scored 80 points on 34 field-goal attempts against Boston.

Embiid still recorded 33 points Saturday on 10-for-20 shooting and 14 rebounds, however, and nothing about his play was startlingly brilliant or exceptional by the very high standards he’s set. These sorts of performances look regularly within reach.

Grinding one out

Detroit held a sizable advantage over the Sixers in three-point shooting during the first half, hitting 9 of 15 long-range attempts compared to the Sixers’ 2-for-8 mark. The Pistons had a lot of success running Wayne Ellington (17 points) around screens, and the Sixers were occasionally lax in either not tracking shooters well or flying past them. 

 

The team’s defense also wasn’t flawless after halftime. However, the facts are that the Sixers overcame an 11-point first-half deficit to win on the road in the second half of a back-to-back. The Sixers did well to plow through those suboptimal circumstances.

Read original article here

The Ultimate News Site