Beard: Pistons pin hopes on strong finish
Oakland, Calif. — Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy bit his lip a little bit.
He had to, but it was hard.
Just a few minutes after his team had blown an 18-point lead to the Sacramento Kings and lost, 100-94, on Tuesday night, he had enough time to compose himself and gather his thoughts.
Last season, he might have let go a flurry of flame emoji-worthy comments for the Pistons’ breakdowns on defense or their shot-clock-killing, one-on-one offensive possessions.
But maybe he’s growing a little in that way, realizing that he has to handle this group of players differently and that he can’t yell and scream after every loss. It’s the NBA. The Cavs, the Warriors and even the Spurs go through their low points in the season — when they can’t finish games in the fourth quarter or don’t give maximum effort to close out.
The Pistons aren’t one of those teams.
Their 18-22 start ahead of Thursday night’s matchup at Golden State means that they’ll finish the first half with a losing record and won’t be in the top eight spots in the Eastern Conference. They will be, however, within a couple games of the No. 5 spot in the East — which is to say the glass is half full, but it’s a dirty, cracked glass.
Admittedly, the Pistons should be better. They’ve underachieved in the first half of the season and the only thing that makes it reasonably acceptable is that they’re not out of the playoff race.
Van Gundy lamented the results in the first half, taking some of blame, as he takes off his hat as coach to examine his performance as coach.
“You’re going to be at 18 or 19 wins, so you can’t be happy with that. I don’t think I’ve gotten us to play at the level that we’re capable of playing at, at this point in the season,” Van Gundy said after Thursday morning’s shootaround at Oracle Arena. “I thought the early part of the year — probably the second 10 games or so — we got to where we were playing at a high level and we haven’t been able to gain a rhythm since then.
“This last 20 games, I haven’t done a good enough job of getting us to play at the level we’re capable of playing at.”
What’s done is done. How the Pistons’ season — and Van Gundy’s role — will be judged is how they fare in the second half of the season.
“We know we’re going to go home from this trip having played 24 road games and 19 at home,” Van Gundy said. “The reality is the schedule gets better for us and if we keep getting better, we’ve got a chance to finish this season very well. I don’t want to lose perspective on that.”
The problem is that the Pistons haven’t played well at home (10-9 record). Last season, they were 22-19 at the midway point — and finished the final 41 games with an identical record. They’ve been bothered this year by injuries, including Reggie Jackson missing the first 21 games, when they went 11-10.
Now, some of the nagging injuries are starting to creep up, with Aron Baynes missing a couple games because of a sprained ankle and now Jon Leuer out because of a bone bruise in his knee.
Van Gundy pointed to the Pistons not having all their rotation players healthy much in the first half as a hindrance — a legitimate issue — but the chemistry hasn’t been there in the time that Jackson has returned, which has cast a pall on the outlook for the second half of the season.
The trade deadline is Feb. 23. Even if the Pistons aren’t shooting for a top-four seed in the East, the target should be making a longer run in the playoffs.
“We just have to stay the course and keep doing what we do and keep pushing ahead to get better and go from there,” Van Gundy said.
Rod.Beard@detroitnews.com
Twitter.com: @detnewsRodBeard
Pistons at Jazz
Tipoff: 10:30 Friday, Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah
TV/radio: FSD, ESPN/WMGC
Outlook: The Jazz (24-16) are one of the surprises in the Western Conference with their first-half start. As they’ve gotten healthy, they’ve surged — winning six of the last nine, including a 100-92 win over the Cavaliers on Wednesday.