If you’re Dwane Casey, what do you take away from Saturday’s loss at Washington: Falling behind by 25 points by halftime or shaving 26 points off a 30-point deficit to end the third quarter?
“Shouldn’t have a takeaway for being down 25,” Casey said – perhaps “snarled” would be more appropriate – after the Pistons couldn’t complete a wild comeback win and wound up losing 106-92, somehow their 11th straight defeat at Washington dating more than seven years.
“It wasn’t anything Washington was doing. They have some talented players, but our focus and give-a-crap level was very low.”
In a league where everything is measured and analytics rules the roost, there is no metric known for “give-a-crap level,” but Casey’s gut monitors it closely and he wasn’t about to cut his young team any slack despite the many handy excuses they had within arm’s reach.
Yes, the Pistons were coming off a 2 hour 39 minute mud wrestling match that featured 57 fouls, five technicals, an ejection and 81 free throws in a 113-111 loss to Brooklyn that ended with a Pistons layup to force overtime rolling off the rim. Sure, they had to then travel to Washington and play an angry Wizards team that hadn’t played since blowing a lead and losing to the Knicks on Thursday. True, they were using their fifth different starting point guard of the season, rookie Saben Lee as trades and injuries continue to roil the roster.
But this, above all else as Casey has reminded everyone since training camp convened in December, is a season of learning and the veteran coach doesn’t want a roster with 12 players 24 or under accepting that adverse conditions excuse lethargic performances.
So halftime was … colorful.
“What I remember is just Coach got on us at halftime,” 19-year-old rookie Isaiah Stewart said. “We weren’t playing hard at all as a group and we all agreed to that. We all came out in the second half and tried to make that change to turn the lead around.”
The turnaround wasn’t immediate. In fact, Washington stretched its lead to 30 a few minutes after halftime. But Wayne Ellington drained three triples in a 63-second span a few minutes after Washington superstar Bradley Beal exited with a leg injury and it was game on. The Pistons outscored Washington 31-5 over the last nine minutes of the quarter.
“I was proud the way the guys came back in the third quarter,” Casey said. “We went on a 31-5 run, something like that, and showed exactly who we should be. That’s what we’re trying to build here. Whether it’s a back to back, whatever the issue is with our schedule, it doesn’t matter. We’re all professionals.”
Washington was clearly rocked on its heels after the Ellington 3-point barrage lit the spark for the Pistons. Beal had gotten the Wizards off and running in the first quarter, using the threat of his shot to get layups and dunks for low-scoring big men Alex Len and Daniel Gafford – they scored eight points apiece in the first quarter – as Washington scored 24 points in the paint in the first quarter.
But with Beal out and Ellington’s hot hand igniting a rally, momentum turned suddenly and completely. If the Pistons had just a little more in the tank – or if they didn’t lose Jerami Grant to a left quad contusion shortly after Beal left in the third quarter – maybe they’d have kept going. Instead, a 9-0 Washington fourth-quarter run that was more about the Pistons going scoreless for nearly five minutes than any regaining of composure by the Wizards put the game beyond the Pistons’ reach.
Ellington led the Pistons with 15 points, hitting 5 of 10 from the 3-point arc on a night the Pistons hit 10 of 29. Stewart, ejected early in Friday’s loss to Brooklyn for elbowing Blake Griffin after Griffin more subtly got him first, was at the heart of the rally and finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. But the Pistons shot 39 percent with 19 turnovers and didn’t have enough of a passing gear after spotting Washington 68 first-half points.
“Want it more,” Stewart said would be his lesson of the night. “Coming off a back to back, we’ve just got to come in ready to play. How we played in that third quarter, that’s how we have to be from the start.”
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March 28, 2021 at 10:01AM
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‘Want it more’ – After falling behind by 30, Pistons nearly rally all the way back in loss at Washington - Pistons.com
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