The Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons saw their five-game winning streak end Monday night with a 114-103 loss to the San Antonio Spurs at Little Caesars Arena, and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff pointed to perimeter defense and execution as key factors.
San Antonio knocked down 18 of 40 from 3-point range, while Detroit shot just 7 of 36 from deep.
“Their threes never really slowed down tonight,” Bickerstaff said. “They moved the ball well. They attack off the bounce to drawing the defense to create those sprays. Some of them were our fault, like we gave up strongside corner threes, which we typically don’t. Replacement threes, which we typically don’t, but give credit to them. They played a good ball game.”
The Spurs won their ninth straight behind 28 points from Devin Vassell and a 21-point, 17-rebound, six-block performance from Victor Wembanyama.
Detroit’s defense limited Wembanyama early, but the 7-foot-4 center still altered shots throughout the night.
“I thought we did a good job being physical with him, keeping him in front of us, making him earn everything,” Bickerstaff said. “Thought we did a good job.”
Wembanyama finished 6-for-16 from the field and 2-for-5 from three, but his presence in the paint forced adjustments.
“What did you make of your group’s ability to try and score around Wemby in the paint?” Bickerstaff was asked.
“I thought late we figured it out,” he said. “You got to go through him. You can’t go around him. I thought JD did a great job late where he was going through him. If you allow him to play in space, he’s too long, too smart, too well positioned. So you got to go at him, try to go through him more. I thought we did that later on.”
Jalen Duren led Detroit with 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting and grabbed 14 rebounds in his second game back from suspension.
Cade Cunningham struggled, missing 21 of 26 shots and finishing with 16 points and 10 assists as multiple defenders keyed in on him.
“It wasn’t just him,” Bickerstaff said when asked about Stephon Castle’s matchup. “You could see they had five guys dialed into him to try to limit what Cade could do as his impact. We’ll go back, watch the film. We got him next week. We’ll be prepared.”
The Pistons shot 38% overall and generated open looks from deep despite the 19% result.
“I thought we got good looks,” Bickerstaff said. “Obviously some of them were contested, but I think the majority of them are shots that we take.”
He added: “Yeah, always. And that’s my responsibility is to help our guys out, put him in better positions next time.”
Detroit (42-13) remains atop the East and hosts the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
“Our guys respect everybody and want to give everybody their best shot,” Bickerstaff said. “No matter who the opponent is, our guys are looking forward to those challenges.”
