Detroit Pistons struggle with cold shooting, inexplicable turnovers in 113-93 loss to 76ers
PHILADELPHIA — One look at the box score reveals exactly why the Detroit Pistons were blown out by the Philadelphia 76ers on the road, 113-93, on Wednesday at Wells Fargo Center.
The Pistons shot 39.2% overall, 26.1% from 3 and committed 22 turnovers, off which the Sixers scored 36 points. Those turnovers were a season high, and both shooting percentages were among the Pistons' worst of the season. Philadelphia hardly played a perfect game, shooting just 38.6% in the second half. It didn’t matter, as Detroit spotted them too many points in the first half to have a realistic chance of rallying.
Jaden Ivey led the NBA-worst Pistons (8-26) with 18 points, Killian Hayes scored 12 points and Saddiq Bey added 11 off the bench. Bojan Bogdanovic (10 points, 8-for-9 at the free-throw line) and Marvin Bagley III (10 points) also reached double figures in scoring.
Joel Embiid led all scorers with 22 points, as the Sixers (18-12) won for the sixth straight game.
The Pistons play in Atlanta on Friday.
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Turnovers lead to poor first half
The Pistons were lucky to only be down 12 at halftime, with 15 turnovers through the first two quarters, besting their previous season high of 13. The majority of their turnovers resulted from ill-advised, if not baffling, passes.
They had several backcourt turnovers. Hamidou Diallo set up an easy layup for Matisse Thybulle early in the second quarter trying to pass the ball to Hayes shortly after the inbounds. Kevin Knox II made a similar mistake midway through the quarter, giving De’Anthony Melton another fastbreak bucket off of a bad pass after the inbounds to extend the Sixers’ lead to 15.
Detroit’s 15 turnovers led to 24 Sixers points. Some of the turnovers were mistakes they can fix. Isaiah Stewart committed three in the first quarter, but two of them were simply mistimed passes to Jalen Duren. The duo have been ironing out their high-low game over the past few weeks, with mixed results, but the Pistons want to see Stewart grow as an all-around playmaker. Until he grows more comfortable with the ball, he’s going to make repeated mistakes with it.
But it was Detroit’s sloppiest half of the season, and many of their turnovers were tough to explain. They improved in the second half, only turning the ball over three times in the third quarter.
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Pistons go cold in second half
Considering Detroit’s turnover woes, it was baffling that they stayed within striking distance through most of the first three quarters. They closed the first half with a 10-3 run to cut a 19-point deficit to 12, and got within nine with 2:59 to play in the third quarter on a layup by Ivey.
If the Pistons could hit shots, they might’ve made it a competitive game in the fourth quarter. But after shooting 53.1% in the first half, they slumped to 32.1% in the third quarter and 26.3% in the fourth. They had one of their worst nights of the season from behind the arc, making just five of 19 attempts. They also got uncracteristicly quiet nights from Bogdanovic, who had only three shot attempts, and Burks, who played 12 minutes and scored seven points on 2-for-5 shooting.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons dinged by awful turnovers in blowout vs. 76ers
