That wasn’t Blake Griffin’s evening: The superstar of the Detroit Pistons hardly hit a throw at first and was then thrown out of the game. The pistons didn’t stand a chance – not least because the Charlotte Hornets had an oldie that really turned up.
The match was expected to be a duel between two hot all-star candidates in the east, with both Kemba Walker and Blake Griffin among the Conference’s strongest players recently. But this memo only seemed to have reached the Hornets-Guard – while Walker was playing well as usual, Griffin experienced a very bad day like he did last time when he won against Atlanta. This time, however, it was against an opponent against whom the pistons could not afford this.
The game was very tight over long periods, although Griffin could not take the game by any means. But in the last quarter, the Hornets quickly made it all clear when they went straight for a 12-2 run, increasing the lead to 18 points and forcing Dwane Casey into a time-out – Rookie Miles Bridges had sunk the second impressive (and barely defended) Dunk within two minutes. There should be one last rebellion in the home hall.
Instead it went on similarly – and 7:06 minutes before the end Griffin let out his frustration to Malik Monk by unsportsmanlike foul, for which he was ejected. With the bonus free throws, Monk extended his lead to 21 points, which should have dispelled the last doubts – but now the pistons came a bit closer, especially thanks to Andre Drummond, who shortened it to 9 points by putting back. 45 seconds before the end, however, Tony Parker scored from downtown – and this throw was really the last coffin nail.
The fact that he came from Parker was not surprising: The Frenchman made perhaps his best game for the new team and came to 24 points (11/18 FG), just like Walker (9/17), who also distributed 8 assists. In addition to the two point guards, Cody Zeller (14 points, 4 blocks) and Bridges (8 points, 8 rebounds from the bank) also attracted attention.
In the pistons, Drummond delivered a monstrous double (23 points, 22 rebounds) and Reggie Bullock also delivered 23 points. Reggie Jackson scored 19 points. Griffin used the 30 minutes before his expulsion to score 10 points (4/16 FG), 6 rebounds and 5 assists.