Pistons vs. Hornets final score: Langston Galloway’s career night no match for Hornets’ buzzer beater

Langston Galloway was the hottest player in the arena Friday night, scoring a career-high 32 points, but it was not enough for Detroit to snap their three-game losing skid. The Charlotte Hornets got a Malik Monk deep 3-pointer at the buzzer to fall for a 109-106 win.

The Pistons had a chance to get the last shot of the game with the scored tied, however Derrick Rose drove the lane jumped in the air underneath the basket and, with a shot impossible, rifled the ball to the perimeter nowhere near anybody. The ball went out of bounds, Rose’s sixth turnover of the game, and the Hornets had possesssion with just over one second remaining. Cue Monk dagger.

Despite Blake Griffin shooting 6-of-19, Luke Kennard not shooting at all (five shot attempts in 37 minutes) and Andre Drummond having a quiet second half, Detroit was in position to take this game. Galloway drilled seven threes in 11 tries and tied for a team-high in minutes at 38. Derrick Rose score 16 on just seven shots, but those six turnovers were the most important part of his statline.

Detroit led at the half by 14 points, mainly because Drummond and Galloway stepped up and ball movement was mostly superb.

The third quarter was all Charlotte’s. They put up 32 compared to Detroit’s 18 — and the game was tied at 83. Charlotte got to the loose balls, they moved the ball, and they had better individual playmaking.

Charlotte spread their scoring around with nine players scoring at least seven points. Charlotte was able to penetrate nearly all night and seem to make all of the gritty, winning plays in the second half.

Terry Rozier and hero Malik Monk paced Charlotte with 19 points apiece.

STARTERS

Andre Drummond

10 points and 11 rebounds in the first half for Andre. His righty hook over his left shoulder was a soft thing of beauty. However, in the second half Andre’s play was more mixed: he turned the ball over four times, offered little to no rim protection and lost his rhythm he had earlier in the game. Part of that was due to Charlotte’s game plan, though some of the blame falls on Detroit and their coaching staff. Andre was not the problem tonight, yet I will say his 16 points and 20 rebounds overshadow the fact his defense was mostly nowhere to be found.

Luke Kennard

Luke made some point guard-like plays and reads on the break and in the half court, good for three first half assists in 17 minutes. He blended in well in half number one.

So...I expected to write how Luke put up a bunch of shots in the second half... but no. Luke shot five times the entire game. Seemingly no plays were called for him. It was obvious Charlotte was keyed in on him at all times, but you would think the coaching staff would hunt for some looks for their best shooter. YOU WOULD THINK.

Blake Griffin

He didn’t get the calls in 13 first half minutes but his aggressiveness likely rubbed off on his teammates. Blake’s shot selection in the second half wasn’t all that great in my eyes, and it’s easy to see he’s still rusty. He played some good team ball at times but the settling for eight threes (and most of them weren’t even close) wasn’t what this team needed.

Bruce Brown

No turnovers in 12 first half minutes — and a confident 3-ball stroke that connected. Overall a decent floor game for Bruce in 22 minutes — it’s just that so often he provides almost zero scoring threat that it’s like playing four on five. Makes it easy on the defense.

Tony Snell

In nine first half minutes Tony rarely got the ball and didn’t put up a shot. Turns out Tony was dealing with a hip issue and he didn’t play the rest of the way.

BENCH

Derrick Rose

Derrick was 4-of-4 in 11 minutes in half number one. Bad news is that he coughed up the ball three times on wild drives with nowhere to go.

This was pure Rose (and pretty good defense by rookie Cody Martin, just a high level play by Rose)

Detroit’s needs Roses’ play-making and creativity, so they’ll have to deal with the turnover issues. Again, six turnovers for Rose. A few were surely maddening decisions.

Langston Galloway

Catch and shoot — he’s one of the quickest triggers that I’ve seen in the league. Galloway also made a sky-high floater and got another strong take near the hoop to go. Five field goals in the first half on just seven attempts, and all were quality, non-forced looks. The Hornets are aware of Langston’s shooting prowess, but with his quicker than most trigger, you really don’t have much of a defense other than a hopeful late hand on his face. Langston was on fire all game long not to mention doing the little things like drawing two charges.

Svi Mykhailiuk

Svi missed both of his looks but gelled nicely in there in his 12 minutes, making the right pass a few times even though it didn’t result in a hoop. In fact, though, Svi was a plus-minus -11 tonight.

Christian Wood

Wood had a four minute shift in the first half and scored a couple of buckets, although a defensive lapse is what I think made Casey pull him out rather quick. Wood was a plus-minus -6 in those four minutes. In the second half he got the quick yank for another breakdown.

Markieff Morris

Markieff attempted a running floater of sorts off the glass in the second quarter that I marked down and will highlight in a post another day. It was just a “what are you thinking” kind of play. It’s bad enough that Markieff loves to shoot threes instead of focus his offense on the post, but his play is what it is at this point. I feel he could be a lot more efficient if he played to his strengths and didn’t try to do too much.

Thon Maker

Played three minutes too many.

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Detroit, now 4-9, is off until Wednesday when they’ll visit the Chicago Bulls.