The Detroit Pistons put together a 48-minute effort on the road against a Washington Wizards squad without Russell Westbrook. Here’s what we learned.
The Detroit Pistons entered Thursday night’s game against the Washington Wizards with a 1-1 record after splitting their home series against the New York Knicks. It would mark the first of two games against the Wizards to wrap up their abbreviated preseason slate, and suddenly in less than a week the NBA regular season will begin.
The Pistons put together a strong 48 minutes against the Russell Westbrook and Davis Bertans-less Wizards and pulled off a 97-86 victory. Of course these preseason wins don’t mean much, but the Pistons did have things clicking on both sides in ways that they didn’t show against the Knicks.
With this one in the books, let’s take a look at three things we learned in the aftermath.
Blake Griffin impacted the game without having to score
Outside of the rookies and youngsters in development on this roster, Blake Griffin‘s health and performance are paramount for the Pistons. Griffin put up a stat line that won’t get much attention, but he was quietly one of the most impactful players on the floor for the Pistons.
He shot just 1-of-3 from the floor and scored three points, but he added five rebounds and three assists in 26 minutes. He also injected a nasty edge into the game in a second-quarter encounter with Thomas Bryant, flinging him to the ground and then laughing at him in the aftermath.
Blake Griffin smiles at Thomas Bryant after they get into it. pic.twitter.com/bxpbS5tucc
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 18, 2020
Even though Griffin is a tremendous scorer when he’s healthy, the Pistons will be at their best if he can impact things in ways other than the scoreboard. On Thursday, he did just that.