What is the story about?
The Pistons win again! This team is the No. 2 defense, but they can apparently scorch teams with over 70 points in a half, too. Detroit is one of the few teams that are a top 10 offense and defense, and they put it all on display against an overmatched Sacramento Kings squad.
The Kings fought to make this a competitive game. It’s the NBA, you aren’t going to blow a team out automatically because you were up by 20 at a point. It’s impressive how Detroit weathers every storm. They didn’t blow this lead tonight.
The Pistons had their track shoes on in the first quarter. They battled with DeMar DeRozan, who is still getting it done. Jumpers, up fakes, pivots, you name it. DeRozan is still a veteran bucket getter, but Detroit was too much.
Detroit flew up and down the court and manned the paint in the first quarter. They scored 11 fast break points to the Kings’ two.
Jalen Duren got some paint buckets to get it started, but Isaiah Stewart didn’t fumble the baton when it was his turn to post. Stew’s rim finishing has been great, and tonight was no different.
It doesn’t hurt when shots fall either. Cade got in rhythm, knocking down two first-quarter threes. Not ideal for Sacramento. For the game, Cade notched another double-double with 23 points and 14 assists. The efficiency is where you’d want it to be as well (6/10 2P 2/5 3P 5/6 FT).
Tobias Harris got in on the fun in transition and was a killer in key spots. The offense was overly flowing the whole first half. This was one of those halves where a contender shows a team its levels to this. It honestly seemed like Detroit was going to get 100 in the first half.
Ausar Thompson is getting fed up with the lack of calls he’s getting. Ausar picked up a T in the second after getting hammered and not getting a call.
It’s interesting seeing the quote-unquote quite twin showing more emotion as of late. Can’t say I don’t like it. He was fired up and was a double-digit scorer before halftime (19 points for the game, and his middy looks money sometimes).
Sacramento trimmed the lead to 17 at halftime. DeRozan is a tough cover. He was the only double-digit scorer for the Kings through two quarters (23).
The Kings wouldn’t send their loyal fans home without some effort. This was an 11-point game three minutes into the third. Duren wasn’t concerned with said effort. Duren was quick to the rim, where he played cleanup man and caught lobs. He was steady when Sacramento began cutting into the lead. Detroit moves to 11-0 when Duren scores 20. He’s pretty important.
Every time DeRozan would make something out of nothing, Detroit would hit back on the other end. In the middle of the 3rd, Duren hit Jaden Ivey and Stew for 3s on consecutive possessions, matching the Kings’ buckets.
Precious Achiuwa had a potential momentum swinging jam over Stew, but Stew hit another cold-blooded 3 the next time down. The Pistons countering the Kings at every turn could deflate upcoming opponents.
Any momentum the Kings had by the end of the 3rd was gone (until their late run). Stew and Tobias were carving them up with high-low actions, Caris LeVert flexed his sticky fingers defensively, and Javonte Green ripped a transition triple and dunked over two Kings to stretch the lead to 112-95.
Ivey got called for a flopping call shortly after that Green slam. I’m not certain if he flopped or not, but we see way more egregious sell jobs than that every night. He died on the screen, but it didn’t look like that warranted a flopping call on first look.
Back to the basketball stuff, Detroit entered the 4th up big, but the fighting Kings stayed in it. With about three and a half minutes to go, Sacramento trimmed the game to 10 after a smooth Nique Clifford midrange jumper.
Tobias matched that shot with a bucket, but DeRozan kept the pressure up on the other end. He put on a shotmaking clinic, finishing with 37 points, shooting 7/12 on jumpers.
With under a minute to go, Hack-a-Sur was deployed, but the 54% FT shooter stepped up and made some big ones. This turned into a free-throw contest down the stretch, and the Pistons prevailed. I should note that the Kings shot 37 FTs to Detroit’s 26, but that didn’t matter—another one in the win column.
