It's A Make Or Miss League: 3 Makes and 3 Misses From Detroit's Unfortunate Loss To Chicago

In Derrick Rose’s first return to Chicago as a Detroit Piston, the Pistons faltered and lost to the Bulls 112-106, putting Detroit at 2-4 on the season.. The Pistons were unable to hold onto a lead all night, with their largest lead being two points when the game was 2-0 in the opening minute. Rose balled out, but it was not enough. As disappointing of a loss as it is, at Palace of Pistons, we give you three makes and three misses of every ball game. Here are tonight’s.

First Make: Derrick Rose’s Return to Chicago

Rose looked poised in his return to Chicago. Even with the standing ovation and MVP chants from the Chicago crowd when he checked in, the television screen showed Rose’s eyes which were locked in on the game ahead of him.

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Rose had a very productive first quarter, tallying five points and two assists in his first six minutes of basketball.

Not only did the Chicago native have a solid first quarter, but he single-handedly led the Pistons on a first half comeback. The Pistons were down big with four minutes left in the half before going on a 20-9 run to close the first half. Of these 20 points, Rose had 10 of them, as well as three assists. 

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Rose single handedly got the Pistons back into the basketball game. He finished the game with 23 points, seven assists and three steals. Every time that Rose entered the game, Detroit would go on a run of some sort. 

As a Pistons fan, you have to love what Derrick Rose did tonight, and has done all season. However, it also has to concern you because Detroit’s offense faltered when he was not on the floor. But, nonetheless, Rose has been playing out of his mind lately and tonight was no exception.

First Miss: Turnover woes

Detroit jumped out of the gates sloppy, turning the ball over six times in the first quarter, including four of them in the first four minutes of the game.

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The Pistons cleaned up some of their turnover issues during the rest of the game, only committing 10 turnovers the rest of the night. However, turnovers are starting to become a really big concern for Detroit as they are averaging 18.5 turnovers per game, ninth worst in the NBA. The Pistons offense is not scoring nearly enough points per game to allow them to be able to turnover the basketball like this. 

It’s pretty simple, if the Pistons want to start winning ball games, they have to take better care of the basketball.

Second Make: Andre Drummond’s Activity

Drummond continued to look like #ContractYearDre in Detroit’s sixth game of the year. Playing all 12 minutes in the first quarter, Drummond had 10 points and eight rebounds, as well as a steal, seamlessly doing all of the work for the Pistons. 

Drummond ended up finishing the game with 25 points and 24 rebounds, along with three blocks and two steals. This was Drummond’s third 20-20 performance already this season.

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Andre has been playing like a man amongst boys these first few games and it will be interesting to see what he does once Griffin comes back. But as far as right now is concerned, Drummond is looking like a player worthy of a max contract.

Second Miss: Three-Point Shooting

Detroit’s three-point shooting was absolutely abysmal in the first half as Detroit did not make their first long gun until there were 53 seconds left in the first half. The Pistons shot the three ball at a six percent clip in the first half, going only 1-16 from deep, compared to Chicago’s 6-18.

Detroit ended up shooting only 20.7 percent of their three point attempts tonight (6-29), after being ranked third in the NBA at 41.8 percent shooting heading into tonight’s game. Had the Pistons made their normal amount of three’s, they would have scored 18 more points and had won this game. However, Detroit’s three-point shooting was a big miss tonight and a huge reason they took the L tonight.

Third Make: Bench Production

The Pistons’ bench unit was one of Detroit’s highlights tonight, putting up a total of 45 of Detroit’s 106 points. Rose led the bench brigade tonight with 23 points on 8-13 shooting, followed by Langston Galloway with 11 points on 4-10 shooting.

Detroit is currently leading the NBA in bench points per game, at 57.6 points per game, not including tonight’s game. A large part of this has been due to the addition of Derrick Rose.

What has been even nicer to see is how efficiently the Pistons’ bench is scoring these points. Going into tonight, Detroit’s bench shot the ball at nearly a 50 percent clip from the floor and 47 percent from three. In tonight’s contest, they shot 48 percent from the floor, but only 20 percent from three.

Even though the three ball didn’t drop for the bench unit tonight, they still did their thing contributing those 45 points.

Third Miss: Starting Lineup Issues

The Pistons have been without their starting point guard Reggie Jackson for four games now, as well as their all-star big man Blake Griffin, who has yet to play this season. Due to these key injuries, head coach Dwane Casey has had to toy with his starting unit. For the first three games of the season, Casey elected to go with Bruce Brown in the starting lineup. 

Since, he has put Luke Kennard in the starting unit, whose game has diminished since entering the starting unit. Kennard averaged 19.6 points per game in his first three games as a member of the bench unit, on 47 percent shooting. In his three starts, Luke is only averaging 12 points. Not only have Luke’s numbers gone down, but his activity level has as well. It’s clear that Casey needs to make a change.

In my opinion, it’s time to put Langston Galloway in the starting lineup. Brown’s ineffectiveness on offense makes him a cancer on the offensive end. Although he is an above average defender, his defense does not make up for his lack of offense. With Kennard in the starting lineup, he is unable to run like he is with the second unit. This leads to less looks, forced shots, and stagnant offense. Enter Galloway.

Although Galloway is not the shooter that Kennard is, he is a much better defender. He is not a better defender than Brown, but he is more of an offensive threat. It just makes sense to put Galloway in the starting unit until Jackson and Griffin are both healthy.

In limited minutes this year, Galloway is averaging 9.3 points per game. It’s time for Casey to give him a shot.

It is still early in the season, but this Pistons team clearly has a lot to work on. They will be back in battle tomorrow night against the Brooklyn Nets at home. Game is scheduled to tip at 7:00 p.m.