Even though the Detroit Pistons lost, I guarantee every fan left the Palace feeling like a winner.
The Pistons hosted the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday. The first half was a feel-’em-out sluggfest, a low-scoring, tie game. The Suns usually run, but the FagTwins were stifled by Detroit’s D. Meanwhile, they had no answer for our interior play, especially “Moose” Monroe.
The third quarter started to slip away when Brandon Jennings re-ignited his team. In a similar display to the OT win in OKC, Jennings forced his way to the hoop for AND1’s and prevented a Suns lead from reaching double-digits. Going into the 4th quarter, we had ourselves a ball game.
When the Pistons fell behind again in the fourth, it was Jonas Jerebko who stepped up his game. His unselfish attitude rubbed off on his fellow players: bodies started to hit the floor, we went after offensive rebounds, and finally, on a Jerebko second chance, we took the lead with under a minute to go. The crowd erupted. It was a furious 9-0 run capped by Jerebko finding Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the corner for the three. I haven’t seen The Palace come alive like that all season.
Unfortunately, we let Eric Bledsoe sneak to the basket on the ensuing possession, where we might have needed big man Andre Drummond. The Pistons still gave themselves a chance, fighting ’til the end in what was the most impressive effort I’ve seen in a long time. Maybe Stan Van is going to work out.