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Dear (Pistons) Basketball,
Just kidding. No Poetry Slam tonight.
Instead, the Pistons lost a close one to a tougher-than-advertised-by-their-record Brooklyn Nets team 87-83. This game started as a Sunday snoozer, as both teams shot atrociously in the first half, putting up a score of 41 to 35 in the first 24. There were minimal highlights from either side, the lone bright spot for the Pistons being Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's play on both ends. He continued to make his case for first-team all defense with loads of hustle, and remained active on the offense end to get good mid-range looks and get to the foul line.
The third quarter picked up the pace a bit more, with Drummond catching some of KCP's hustle, even leading a rather impressive fast-break and1 which he converted. He finished the night with 20 points and 17 boards to continue his double-double dominance.The Pistons put together a nice little run to get up 10 but it still never felt comfortable.
In the 4th, the Pistons defensive effort was noticeably lacking and we got treated to the Wayne Ellington show for the beginning of a Nets run. Lopez started hitting shots and Shane Larkin hit his first three out of what seemed like a dozen to put the Nets up and I started screaming at my TV.
The Pistons made a run back at the game, but they just couldn't hit the shots they needed down the stretch. 34% from the field and 26
Bottom line: this game was ugly. Granted, this is a Nets team that took Golden State to OT. Lost a close one in Cleveland the night before and has generally been in most of their games. But there's no reason for coming out the gates as sloppy as they did. Especially knowing Brooklyn is coming off a draining loss the night before.
The Pistons have a bad hero-ball habit at times, ball movement is noticeably lacking and that is why our FG percentage hurts the way it does. Period. This loss was like a puppy getting stuck on the last stair and then going to the bathroom all over itself. You were so close!! You saw the finish line!! And then you made a mess.
Now your thoughts about Kobe's retirement, because I'd like to pretend this game never happened.