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Detroit Pistons Fall To 6-2 As Bickerstaff Credits Jaylen Brown’s 30-Point Night
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- Detroit Pistons Fall To 6-2 As Bickerstaff Credits Jaylen Brown’s 30-Point Night
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
While the Detroit Pistons (6-2) already had a difficult challenge at hand last night when facing the Philadelphia 76ers (8-1), the return of Joel Embiid made that proposition even tougher to pull off.
Embiid was injured when the Pistons toppled the Sixers on their turf by a 106-93 margin in the first week of the regular season , but Philadelphia has gained steam since their big man has returned and battled through plantar fasciitis. Last night, Embiid knocked down all 10 of his free throws and posted 26 points with 15 rebounds in what was a 112-106 win for the Sixers at Little Caesars Arena , but the Pistons made a big push towards the end of the fourth quarter before their comeback ran out of time.
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From Detroit's perspective, Duncan Robinson had one of his most prolific performances of the year with 27 points while knocking down seven long-range triples on the night. Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham added to that effort with 26 points and 11 assists of his own for a double-double, and Detroit even benefited from a monstrous 11-point, 17-rebound display from Ausar Thompson last night. But despite those standout performances, Detroit was unable to outscore the dynamic duo of Embiid and Jaylen Brown, a partnership that went off for a combined 56 points on Wednesday night.
After the game, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff took some time to opine about how effective Brown was, especially concerning his 20-point first half outburst.
"I thought he took tough shots," Bickerstaff said after the game . "I thought our guys did a great job of trying to keep him in front, but he made tough twos over and over again, so give him credit. He's a really good basketball player."
As a team, the Pistons were outrebounded on the night even with Thompson's dominant effort to clean the glass, so the squad looked like a group that would have benefited from the influence of All-Star center Jalen Duren last night. Now, Duren was unavailable the first time Detroit and Philly squared off earlier in the season, but the Pistons have struggled to maintain a strong presence in the low post over the last several games.
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From a scoring standpoint, John Collins bounced back for Detroit with a 16-point night after a string of subpar performances, so it was important for the veteran big man to build some positive momentum despite the loss. So far, Collins has had a turbulent start to his Pistons tenure with some games unfolding as dynamic two-way displays with both threes and lobs on the table, but other matchups have turned out to be much quieter and more reserved for the Wake Forest product.
After practice today, Duren returned to the floor to get some rehab work in the books, so it looks like he is getting closer to making his return from a strained right hamstring. On Oct. 25, the Pistons said that JD would be reevaluated in two weeks, so the team should have an update on the big man sooner rather than later.
