Frustration Mounts For Pistons Amid Davis' 59 Points, Roster Confusion

By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby

Stan Van Gundy had no answers Sunday, except to say he had none.

His Pistons team, on a five-game slide to bookend the All-Star break, had just allowed New Orleans' Anthony Davis to set a Palace of Auburn Hills scoring record – and Pelicans franchise record – with 59 points off 24-of-34 shooting. Davis' performance was the highest-scoring individual game in the NBA this year, topping Demarcus Cousins' 56-point explosion in January. And with his 20 rebounds, Davis put together the first 50-point/20-rebound stat line since Chris Webber did so in 2001.

The Pistons also yielded to that performance with a loss, 111-106.

"That one's on me," Van Gundy said. "You've got to come up with something.  A guy can't get 59. That's on me. That's terrible coaching. Terrible."

The barrage came from everywhere: Davis posted up down low. The hook shots fell; the dunks looked easy. He stepped back and hit three-pointers (making both of his long-range attempts). He swished mid-range jumpers. He made 9-of-10 free throws. New Orleans' pick-and-roll action gave Davis open look after open look.

The Pistons, who have struggled defensively on and off all season, had no answers against one of the most dynamic scorers in the NBA.

"After you get in a rhythm, it doesn't matter who's in front of you," said Pistons point guard Reggie Jackson, who would have been the story of the day without Davis' record-breaking game. Jackson finished with 34 points off 11-of-20 shooting.

"Andre (Drummond) did a great job contesting him," he continued. "Marcus (Morris) was on him, Tobias (Harris). The team was rotating to him. He just had that rhythm."

Even as Davis exploded in the second quarter for 18 points (finishing with 26 in the first half), the Pistons hung around. The lead changed hands 12 times, and there were 11 ties before the Pelicans finally pulled away on the back of Davis scoring 53 percent of their points.

"You can sit here and say be more physical with him, but really tonight he was just in the zone," said Harris, who joined the Pistons this week via trade. "It's a team thing. All five guys – he didn't score 59 points or whatever on one guy. He scored on pretty much everyone out there."

Drummond, Davis' franchise-player counterpart in Detroit, scored 21 himself, off 9-of-13 shooting. But his defense lacked, and he couldn't keep up with the more versatile Davis, who scored from virtually everywhere on the court Sunday.

Davis' 59 points, although historic in its own right, was also an embarrassing sign of the Pistons' declining stock this season.

Detroit slipped to two games under .500 with the loss to New Orleans, and is out of sorts following the All-Star break. The team's discombobulation showed in its inability to guard Davis, but the Pistons have been slipping for several weeks. After spending the majority of the season over .500, the Pistons have lost five straight games, and are slidng further away from the Eastern Conference's final playoff berth.

Those fortunes may change, once the team gets accustomed to its new look. Harris is still gelling with the team after joining this week, but two more trade bounties (Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton) are in a holding pattern. The league provided an extension until 6 p.m. Monday for the trade to be finalized, allowing for more medical examination of Motiejunas and his nagging back injury.

To make matters worse, Anthony Tolliver went down with a sprained knee Sunday and was scheduled for an MRI.

And although the second half of the season has just started, the Pistons have to start making a move on a playoff berth if they're going to break their six-year postseason drought. For now, the only answer is disgruntlement.

"I think everyone's frustrated," Van Gundy said in an abbreviated news conference following the Pelicans game. "No one likes to lose."

"It's frustrating … It's very frustrating to have another guy go down, when two guys who came over in the trade unfortunately can't get on the court yet," Jackson said. "Yeah, that's about it on that."