NBA teams, even the bad ones, generally play fairly well in their own arena. But here’s Michigan Live on the Detroit Pistons’ home struggles:
Here’s how absurd this Detroit Pistons season has become: Andre Drummond finally got his first 20-20 game, the Pistons went on a 30-4 scoring run, and the New Orleans Pelicans were playing short in the backcourt and without four of their top six scorers.
And the Pistons still lost.
Eric Gordon’s driving basket with 1.9 seconds left for a 103-101 Pelicans win wrapped another blown fourth-quarter lead for the Pistons, who were up by 10 with less than six minutes remaining.
As the game ended, with Maurice Cheeks bellowing for a timeout his team never called, the head coach was left to stare into the crowd at a fan who lobbed a vile curse at him for having rookie guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — arguably the Pistons’ best guard defender — on Gordon for the game-winning isolation play.
“I don’t even know what he said,” Cheeks said. “I was focused in on the play itself.”
Cheeks said he stared into the crowd out of sheer dismay after the Pistons (17-26) slipped to 7-15 at home and lost at The Palace of Auburn Hills for the eighth time in their last nine home games.
