Pistons vs Hornets final score: Detroit finally beats Charlotte in another wild ending

The Detroit Pistons are 5-1 in their last six games.

In their first game without Jaden Ivey since suffering a broken leg, the Detroit Pistons took on the Charlotte Hornets in Little Caesars Arena without their two top dawgs: LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. JB Bickerstaff mentioned before the game that Ivey’s starting spot will be fluid based on matchups and who’s playing well – he said “we want to use this opportunity to do different things.”

Well, by starting Wendell Moore Jr, he’s certainly doing something different and unexpected. It seems like JBB wants to keep the team’s set roles in place by continuing to bring Beasley, Ausar, Ron, etc. off the bench. We’ll see how that works moving forward, but it proved to work tonight as Detroit pulled off the victory.

The first subs from JB Bickerstaff were Beasley and Ausar for Moore and THJ. We briefly saw a Cade/Beasley/Ausar/Tobi/Duren lineup that some predicted should be the starting lineup without Ivey, but Duren quickly picked up a second foul and was replaced with Stew. I don’t hate a lineup that surrounds Ausar with four shooters. Stew even knocked another three down!

Charlotte led 31-26 after the first quarter after eight Hornets players scored. They shot 55% from the field and 50% from deep. Detroit was able to shoot 56% from three, but they only shot 39% from the field – they shot 4-for-14 from two. Tobias led the way for the Pistons with 10 points.

Paul Reed and Ron Holland injected some energy into the second unit. Reed immediately got a quick steal, and Ron hustled his way to some transition layups and knocked down a three. Cade picked up all three of his first-half fouls in the middle of the second and was subbed out when Charlotte had a 51-46 lead, so it was up to Marcus Sasser and Ausar Thompson to create the offense to keep the game close.

Spoiler alert: it didn’t go well. Sasser missed a three and turned it over on consecutive possessions. Ausar had two turnovers and is struggling to find a role in the halfcourt offense. The half ended with JB Bickerstaff challenging a foul on Tobias where both JBB and Tobi received technicals afterwards. To make things worse, Cade turned it over on the final inbounds play and Miles Bridges hit a 30 footer at the buzzer.

Charlotte took a 65-52 lead into halftime and Detroit was outhustled for majority of the first half. The team seemed disinterested and the Hornets were the ones who brought the energy to LCA. JB Bickerstaff played 11 guys, but to be fair to him, the Pistons committed 15 fouls while Charlotte only committed six. The broadcast mentioned how vocal he was on the sideline to the refs about their lack of a whistle when Detroit had the ball. Detroit’s leading scorers were Tobias (10), Holland (9), Cade (8), and Beasley (7) as they were struggling with secondary creation without Ivey.

In a game that was lacking effort from Detroit, Jalen Duren was the one who brought the energy to start the second half that sparked a 21-10 run halfway through the third quarter. He was active defensively, got after it on the offensive boards, and dunked everything. A THJ corner three finally put the Pistons ahead 79-78 for the first time since the middle of the first quarter.

The final moments of the third were BANANAS. Tobias had a driving dunk for the lead, then Stew stuffed Cody Martin at the rim, and Ausar floated in the air for a good five seconds on his way to a monster two-handed transition dunk that sent LCA into a frenzy. Detroit took a 84-82 lead heading into the fourth.

The first five minutes of the fourth quarter produced a total of seven points as Detroit was outscoring Charlotte 4-3 where neither team could produce any offense. Tobias Harris got a steal and dunk that forced Charles Lee to call a timeout as Cade was on the bench after picking up his fifth foul.

Tobias was about to get another transition dunk, but THJ got in the way of Josh Green and was called for an offensive foul that I’ve never seen called – but JBB was pretty much yelling at the refs all night. The vets had to carry the offensive load with Cade sitting. Tobias was getting easy buckets inside and THJ even threw a lob to Beasley in transition to put Detroit up 92-85.

Cade was fouled on a take to the rim where he knocked down 1-of-2 free throws to give Detroit a three-point lead with 19 seconds left. Jalen Duren blocked Charlotte’s layup on the next possession, but Ausar Thompson ended up being the one getting fouled and he missed both free throws (badly) to give Charlotte another shot to tie the game. Detroit played great defense, specifically by Duren and Ausar, to force Miles Bridges into an airball. THJ hit 1-of-2 free throws with a second left and the Pistons beat the Hornets 98-94.

Charlotte scored 65 in the first half and 29 in the second. The foul discrepancy was 27-10 in favor of the Hornets and that was including three late in the game. It was another bizarre finish with the Charlotte Hornets, but this time the Pistons were victorious.

Detroit was led by Tobias Harris who had 24 points and 10 rebounds. He shot 4-for-5 from deep and even added three steals – it was the first time he led the Pistons in scoring. We knew one of the veterans was going to have to step up with the injury to Ivey, and tonight, that was Tobi. He’s starting to put together a string of nice games where he’s playing at the level I expected him to when we signed him this summer.

It was an ugly win, for sure. Cade had 18 points on 20 shots, Malik Beasley shot 1-for-10 from deep, and THJ was 3-for-10 from the field. Ausar can’t seem to find his footing on offense, but he fits in real well on the defensive side of the ball. Holland continues to impress and Jalen Duren has looked much better lately on both sides of the ball. Detroit plays again tomorrow night hosting Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves .