点击查看原文：3 takeaways as Spurs fall to Pistons to end 3-game win streak

3 takeaways as Spurs fall to Pistons to end 3-game win streak

San Antonio Spurs forward Harrison Barnes (40) is fouled by Detroit Pistons center Isaiah Stewart (28) while taking a shot during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

DETROIT — The Spurs desperately wanted to win Tuesday night’s game against the up-and-coming Pistons to match the season-high four-game winning streak they enjoyed in November.

“That’s the goal,” Julian Champagnie said before the game. “If we could have it our way — I think we have 12 games left — win all 12.”

It didn’t happen. It wasn’t even close.

Devin Vassell scored 26 points, and rookie Stephen Castle contributed 19, but they didn’t get much help from their teammates as the Spurs fell 122-96 before 19,511 at Little Caesars Arena.

“It was a tough one,” Vassell said.

Marcus Sasser had a career-high 27 points off the bench for Detroit, which led by as many as 30 points in the third quarter and last trailed midway through the first period and only by a mere point.

The Pistons, who were without star Cade Cunningham for a second straight game due to a calf injury, had five other players score in double figures. Jalen Duren had 14 points and seven assists, and Ausar Thompson recorded 14 points and six rebounds.

In completing a sweep of their two-game season series with the Spurs (31-40) after beating them 125-110 on Feb. 21 in Austin, the Pistons (41-32) limited San Antonio to 36.3% shooting from the field (33 of 91) and finished with a 56-36 edge in points in the paint.

“Give them a lot of credit,” acting Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. "They’re physical. They guard. They make you work for everything. They are really committed to the paint on both sides of the floor.

“And we missed a lot of shots. They had something to do with that. They were pushing us off spots. They were disrupting our timing. We had six points in the paint in the first half. That’s not sustainable.”

The Spurs trailed 60-34 at the half after getting outscored 30-12 in second quarter. The 12 points tied for their lowest-scoring second quarter this season and was a point shy of matching their season low for any period.

The Spurs’ 34 points were a season low for points in a half. The previous low was 37 in the first half at Minnesota on Dec. 29.

Here are three takeaways from the second game of a three-game road trip that ends Thursday night in Cleveland:

1. Vassell didn’t get any help in the early going

Vassell made J.B. Bickerstaff look good after the Pistons coach sang the fifth-year guard’s praises before the game.

“He’s dynamic offensively,” Bickerstaff said. “He puts a ton of pressure on you. It seems like every single touch is an aggressive scoring touch. He has the ability to drive the basketball, he can shoot the basketball, he can create in one-on-one situations. It seems he’s ahead of the game on the offensive end, and you continue to see him get better.”

It was the 22nd time this season Vassell has finished with 20 or more points. He raised his streak of double-digit scoring games to 14 in a row, including three straight with 20 or more.

so fancy​ pic.twitter.com/KCvl4hQGPJ

— San Antonio Spurs (@ spurs) March 26, 2025

“He’s assumed more responsibility, obviously, with (Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox out for the season), and that’s given him confidence and you can see it,” Bickerstaff said. “He’s playing like a lead guard, a guy who’s out there trying to carry his team, and he’s been successful at it.”

Vassell had 11 points on 4 of 8 from the field and 3 of 5 from 3-point range in the first quarter. Unfortunately for the Spurs, the rest of the team was a combined 4 of 16 and 2 of 9, a big reason why they trailed 30-22 going into the disastrous second quarter.

“He was aggressive,” Johnson said. “He was one of the few guys in the first half that was intentionally trying to fight for spots and space, and you saw that. He had almost half our points. He was a bright spot in the first half and then even in the second half, and it was, again, some plays that won’t show up as scoring or in the box score. He had some physicality plays he didn’t have when we played them in Austin.”

2. Second quarter an unmitigated disaster for the Spurs

Things got so bad for the Spurs in terms of getting pushed around by the physical Pistons in the second period that they were held without a field goal from 11:20 on the clock until Vassell scored on a driving layup with just 31.5 seconds remaining.

The Spurs hit just 2 of 19 from the field, including 1 of 11 from beyond the arc, in the quarter.

“I felt like just a little bit of everything,” Johnson said when asked what went wrong. “We missed some decent shots. We didn’t play through the initial resistance or physicality they showed. We got pushed to the sidelines a lot. We weren’t able to gain advantages. We didn’t set good enough or physical enough screens.”

Said Harrison Barnes, “We didn’t match their physicality on both ends of the floor.”

3. Bickerstaff a solid choice for Coach of the Year

With Cleveland sitting atop the Eastern Conference with a 57-14 record, first-year Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson has received a lot of support for Coach of the Year.

But Bickerstaff wouldn’t be a bad choice either after replacing Monty Williams, who was fired last June after one season.

The Pistons finished an NBA-worst 14-68 in 2023-24, a miserable season that included a historic 28-game losing streak. But after Tuesday’s win, they are within a percentage point of Milwaukee for fifth place in the East.

In contrast to Williams, Bickerstaff has taken a hands-on approach to player development. He’s also popular with the fans for the way he’s tangled at times with officials.

Detroit Pistons guard Marcus Sasser (25) drives up court against the San Antonio Spurs during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Before Tuesday’s game, he echoed a Gregg Popovich approach during the Spurs championship years in that he stressed that it’s all about finishing the season “playing at our peak.”

“We’re not in the playoffs yet,” Bickerstaff said. "We’ve clinched post-season play, whatever that may be, but our focus is on trying to play good basketball and that’s the conversation we had with the guys. Whatever happens moving forward, we want to be playing at our peak. So, the attention to detail, the small things, the habits, those are the things that we’re focused on because if we take care of those things, we’ll be successful enough and earn what we’re looking for and then go to the postseason, whatever it is, with confidence and belief and trust in our system and what we’re trying to do.

“If you get to the postseason and you’re trying to figure it out, you’re done, so our focus on these last 10 games is on all of our habits, the details and paying attention to all the small things that make us successful.”