Detroit Pistons unable to do much right in 122-103 blowout loss to Indiana Pacers
The Detroit Pistons received bad injury news hours before Wednesday’s game against the Indiana Pacers.
Things didn't get much better once the game started. The Pacers walloped the Pistons at Little Caesars Arena, 122-103. Detroit fell to 12-57 overall, and with 13 games remaining, the team still needs four wins to avoid setting a franchise record for fewest wins in a season.
The Pistons announced before the game that Ausar Thompson (blood clot) and Isaiah Stewart (right hamstring strain) will miss the remainder of the season. Quentin Grimes (right knee contusion), Simone Fontecchio (left great toe contusion) and Taj Gibson (right hamstring soreness) also didn't play. Stanley Umude (right ankle soreness) pulled up lame in the third quarter and did not return.
"No excuse," coach Monty Williams said postgame. "I don’t care about the talent level, it doesn’t matter. I’ve spent my whole NBA career overcoming, and that’s just what it is. No player in this league has achieved anything without overcoming. That’s what I’m looking for with this group. I told the guys this is the first time I where I looked at them in the game and we felt sorry for themselves. You could tell tonight. There was a little bit of an emotional, whatever, and whether it was officiating or missing shots, we didn’t have same consistent poise."
Indiana took control at the end of the second quarter, closing the first half with a 9-0 run that pushed their lead to 63-52 at halftime. The Pacers delivered the death blow in the third, opening it with a 24-9 run that gave them their biggest lead up until that point, 87-61.
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'Off'ensive
Detroit struggled with outside shooting (5-for-23) and ball control (16 turnovers, off of which the Pacers scored 24 points) as Indiana torched them by shooting 56.8% overall.
Cade Cunningham (23 points, 10 assists, six rebounds) started hot, knocking down seven of his first 10 shots for 17 points at halftime. He proceeded to miss his next 10 attempts, a stretch that crushed Detroit’s hopes of coming back. Beyond Cunningham, Detroit struggled to generate much offense. Jaden Ivey (15 points), Jalen Duren (11 points, 12 rebounds) and Tosan Evbuomwan (11 points) were the Pistons' remaining players in double-figures.
To beef up their forward depth, the Pistons signed free agent Chimezie Metu to a 10-day contract Wednesday morning. He made his season debut and finished with eight points and three rebounds.
Pascal Siakam led Indiana with 25 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Tyrese Halliburton added 20 points and nine assists.
Tosan Evbuomwan stands out, but depth at forward will be a challenge
Stewart and Thompson’s injuries give the Pistons no choice but to lean on their young, more-unproven forwards. Umude started his second straight game Wednesday. Joining him in the lineup was Evbuomwan, who impressed Williams during his 18 minutes off the bench during Monday’s loss to the Boston Celtics.
“I thought Tosan was effective in the game the other day,” Williams said of the two-way forwards’ 11-point performance against the Celtics. “He stepped out there and didn’t run from the moment, and he didn’t eject himself in the game in a way that looked weird. He just played his game and he’s a guy that’s worked on a number of parts of his game since I’ve been around them, Vegas until now. It’s pretty cool to see their development.”
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The 6-foot-7 forward signed his two-way deal with the Pistons on Feb. 22 following a 10-day contract. A Princeton alumnus, Evbuomwan joined the Pistons in Las Vegas for summer league last offseason. He has spent most of this season with the Motor City Cruise.
He arguably was Detroit’s second-best player in the first half after Cunningham, scoring nine of his 11 points in the stretch. Evbuomwan doesn’t try to do too much — he was a point forward in college. He mostly played with Detroit’s scheme, capitalizing on transition opportunities and attacking gaps.
Evbuomwan won’t patch Detroit’s lack-of-depth at power forward singlehandedly, though. Umude, Metu and Troy Brown Jr. also logged minutes at the four. It was an overall bad night for the Pistons on both ends, an unideal omen for a team lacking its two best defenders while fighting to not end up on the wrong side of history.
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him @omarisankofa.
Next up: Celtics
Matchup: Pistons (12-57) vs. Celtics (55-14).
Tipoff: 7 p.m. Friday; Little Caesars Arena, Detroit.
TV/radio: Bally Sports Detroit; WXYT-FM (97.1).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons can't do much right in 122-103 blowout loss to Pacers
