Dirk Nowitzki wrote:The most surprising thing to me was the lack of energy and intensity from the Pistons. Well illustrated by a "scrub"(Mejri) denying Drummond a few times and having a couple of put back dunks on his face. He is the biggest mismatch on the Pistons but didn't have his usual impact in this game - Pachulia finished with 0 fouls. Then of course, there's the glaring issue of having no one off the bench where you can rely on to give a spark, carry the team for a little while... I have no idea how Blake is still the main backup pg in the league, while on the other hand, Harris was big for the Mavs off the bench.
If you look at the Mavs results, they've been losing a ton of games, a lot of them based on the energy/athleticism factor. I expected a loss in this game. The Pistons beat the Mavs twice recently, are younger, more athletic... and it was a huge game at home against a depleted Mavs team. It's the best win in several weeks for the Mavs.
With the bad start to the game, I imagined that maybe the Pistons took the Mavs lightly and got too distracted by looking ahead to the Bulls game, but they did get back in the game twice... so I guess I'll give a little credit to the Mavs for holding on.
The Pistons often play sluggish when they have too much rest. The benches inability to score was the main issue though.
1st: DET 25, DAL 25
2nd: DET 11, DAL 26
3rd: DET 25, DAL 20
4th: DET 28, DAL 27
Pistons won or were even every qtr except that 2nd when you started 15-0 vs our bench. That was the game right there. Drummond actually finished with the best +/- for either team (+16). The problem wasn't Mijia v Drummond, it was when Baynes was in we were -25. That's a 41 pt difference at the C spot in a 9 pt game.