Detroit Pistons: Ausar Thompson Grabs 17 Boards In Narrow Loss To 76ers

After the Detroit Pistons took down the Philadelphia 76ers by double-digits on the road during the first week of the regular season, the same two sides worked their way to the top of the Eastern Conference ahead of their crash-course on Wednesday night. 

With the Sixers on top of the East at 7-1, the Pistons were just one game behind with a 6-1 record for their early-season handiwork, but last night’s game unfolded much differently with Joel Embiid back in the mix for Philly’s 112-106 win. 

Now, the Pistons were still shorthanded for last night’s contest with Jalen Duren and Isaiah Joe both sidelined, so Detroit still had to make a few personnel changes to their depth chart entering the highly touted matchup. 

“Last time we played them, we were missing some guys, they were missing some guys,” Pistons wing Ausar Thompson said after the game. “Today, they had their whole team. Obviously, we were missing two people, but I feel like we learned about them. We learned what we can do next time: make it more crowded and get more rebounds too.”

Embiid, a former scoring champion, showed that he still has the ability to dominate the low post with a 26-point, 15-rebound exhibition against the Pistons. For much of the night, Detroit deployed Paul Reed and Tolu Smith to deal with Embiid, but that was a fruitless proposition from beginning to end. 

Alongside Embiid’s stellar shooting display that included a 10-for-10 mark from the charity stripe, Jaylen Brown poured it on for 30 more points before the final buzzer sounded. Since the Pistons entered the game with the top defensive rating in the NBA, Philly’s ability to lodge 56 points between two players went a long way towards their six-point victory. 

“To start, we were not playing together,” Thompson said. “We weren’t moving it too much, then in the second half we started doing that and we saw progress.”

As Thompson alluded to, Detroit was only able to muster 42 points in the first half, so the squad needed a stark jolt during the break in order to mount a comeback. And to their credit, the Pistons did stake a comeback that hovered around a one-possession game late in the fourth quarter, but the Sixers hit key free throws down the stretch to seal their eighth win of the season. 

As for Thompson, the All-Defensive First-Teamer did his best to make up for Duren’s absence in the low post. From a rebounding perspective, AT was all over the glass for a monstrous 17-board performance on the night, which was 10 more than his next closest teammate. Thompson carried his aggressiveness over to the offensive glass as well with a couple explosive put-backs, so the fourth-year wing made an impact in both directions with 11 points for a double-double. 

Now, Cade Cunningham also posted 26 points and 11 assists to give the Pistons two double-doubles on the night, but Detroit was outmatched despite Duncan Robinson’s prolific 27-point effort as well. Robinson, who connected on seven triples in the game, continued to help replace Duren’s scoring production during his absence, but the Pistons could have used the All-Star center’s play-finishing and defense last night.