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With presumptive starters Ben Wallace and Kwame Brown sitting one out Thursday with minor injuries, the four other big men vying for a spot in the frontcourt pecking order got ample opportunities to stake their claim with John Kuester. They all had their moments offensively, but the way the short-handed Timberwolves put up points at the other end probably solidified the case for starting Brown and Wallace, their two most stout defenders. Minnesota was without its two top players, Al Jefferson and Kevin Love, yet the three players who took their minutes – Ryan Gomes, Oleksiy Pecherov and Ryan Hollins – shot 13 of 16 in the first half and combined for 53 points as the Timberwolves shot 53 percent and rolled to a 122-114 win that drops the Pistons to 3-4 with their fourth straight preseason loss. It wasn’t the defensive showing Kuester had hoped he’d get after the Pistons sprung leaks in their past three games following an impressive start to the preseason, when they held their first three opponents to under 40 percent. “It’s very concerning,” Kuester said. “I have told you people all along that we’ve got to defend to win and we’re not doing that right now. We’ve done it in spurts, but we’ve got to be a consistent defensive team that’s got to be relentless.” “That’s just not acceptable,” said Charlie Villanueva, who had 17 points and 10 rebounds in 31 minutes. “You just have to pick it up on defense. It’s just guys not being on the same page at the same time. They hit some good shots, but still – not to discredit anything from Minnesota – we should have beaten this team.” It took Villanueva all of three minutes to flash a full array of offensive skills that convinced Joe Dumars to make him the frontcourt priority with his free-agent bounty. In those three minutes, Villanueva hit a long jump shot, threaded a bounce pass to Rip Hamilton for a layup, and put the ball on the floor, taking it from the wing to the basket, to draw a foul, making both free throws
His role is secure, needed for his offense as surely as Wallace and Brown have a leg up because of their defense. It’s the three others – Jason Maxiell, Chris Wilcox and Jonas Jerebko – who appear to be jockeying for roles behind Brown, Wallace and Villanueva. “The biggest thing is them defending the way I want us to defend and, at times, they’re doing it,” Kuester said. “But we’ve got to be consistent and we’re not consistent right now. In evaluating Maxiell and Jonas and Chris Wilcox, they all bring something special to the table, but it’s got to be a collective thing and we’re trying to get more out of them.” Tough to say if any of them did something to separate himself in Thursday’s loss. Wilcox had 10 points, seven boards and a blocked shot in 24 minutes, drawing the start when Brown told trainer Arnie Kander before the game that his left hand, injured early in camp, could use a night without jostling. (Wallace banged his knee in practice earlier in the week.) He posted up and drew a foul early, making both foul shots, had an impressive put-back jam and dunked twice off nice set-ups. Maxiell finished with 10 points and four boards in 21 minutes, scoring eight of his points in 15 first-half minutes. He started strong offensively, scooping up an offensive rebound and finding Rodney Stuckey (25 points, five assists, four rebounds) for a layup, drawing a foul inside and sinking both foul shots, stepping out to drain a 17-footer with the shot clock about to expire and scoring over Damien Wilkins on a mismatch inside.
Jerebko had a burst of impressive moments early – a sweeping hook shot across the lane, a layup in transition when he beat Minnesota’s big men back, and a pretty winding drive finished with a flipped scoop – but finished with only one rebound and six fouls to go with his six points in 18 minutes. The Pistons started well, leading 10-2, but were up just 64-61 at halftime. After again getting the jump on Minnesota to lead by nine early in the third quarter, the Timberwolves went on a 22-4 run to go up by nine and never lost the lead from that point on, eventually pushing it to 15 in the fourth quarter. “Damn – 122 points is too many for a team like Minnesota, any team in the NBA,” Stuckey said. “We’ve just got to come out from the get-go if we’re going to be aggressive on defense so the referees know what style of defense we’re going to play.” Stuckey also fouled out in 32 minutes as the Pistons were whistled for 36 fouls to 22 for Minnesota, which outshot the Pistons 46-31 from the foul line. “We keep talking about competing hard in practice and playing defense without fouling,” Kuester said. “They shot 14 foul shots in the first half and end up with 46. I’m not saying anything about the officiating, it’s just a matter of us defending without fouling, and not silly fouls. They got in the bonus in the first two minutes of the fourth period. It was not what we wanted to see.” What he’ll want to see Friday night in the preseason finale at Milwaukee is the defense the Pistons played in those first three preseason games.
