Pat Connaughton’s career night powers Bucks
The Detroit Pistons dropped their season finale 140-133 in overtime against the Milwaukee Bucks . With playoff seeding locked up for both teams, the squads sat out plenty of players and limited the minutes of others. Cade Cunningham sat out as did Giannis Antetokounmpo.
It was an opportunity for young guys to play and, in the case of veteran Pat Connaughton, a chance to go nuclear. Buried on the bench for much of the season, Connaughton scored a career-high 43 points in 43 minutes of action. The Fiserv Forum had a good time, at least.
Malik Beasley led the Pistons with 23 points, draining seven threes in limited minutes. Two-way players and little-used rookie Bobi Klintman and Tolu Smith played nicely, scoring 15 and 14 points, respectively. Lindy Waters hit 6 of his 16 three-point attempts en route to 18 points. Marcus Sasser also scored 18 points for the Pistons, though he struggled in his point guard facilitation role.
The Pistons trailed by as many as 22 early in the game, but spent the rest of the game battling back. The Pistons took their first lead since early in the first quarter on a Sasser 3-pointer to put up 103-101 with just under seven minutes to play.
Detroit then fell back down eight points with just 42 seconds to play. A quick Lindy Waters three followed by a steal on the inbounds pass and a three from Bobi Klintman in the corner cut the lead to two.
The Pistons fouled Jamaree Bouyea, who hit just one of two free throws, giving the Pistons a chance with nine seconds remaining. Detroit swung the ball to Waters again in the corner who nailed a contested three to send the game to overtime.
The overtime period was, uh, not as successful. The Pistons lost. It doesn’t matter. Now we move on to the playoffs and getting ready to face the New York Knicks next weekend.