"I think six minutes left in the game we were up 101-91 and I don't know if it was our offense going bad or their defense coming better, we struggled to score the ball in that situation and we've got to find easier shots," Pistons point guard Jose Calderon said. "And at the same time we didn't make those shots that we were making in the first. So yeah, we're going to look at the end, but it was just those plays, those last six minutes we just maybe didn't execute the right way."
"We missed some good looks in that stretch," he said. "You have to give Charlotte some credit. too, I thought defensively they buckled down. I go back to how we started. We had to exert so much energy to get back the lead but that is when the wheels fell off."
The Pistons' top players are healthy for Saturday's contest, but they're dealing with some injuries. Shooting guard Reggie Bullock has missed the last five games with an ankle sprain but is expected to play after practicing on Friday. Reserves Glenn Robinson III and Henry Ellenson are sidelined with ankle ailments.
Center Al Horford is sidelined with a knee injury, which could present problems on Saturday as the Celtics try to contain Detroit's inside duo of Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin.
"We expected things to come easy," guard Kyrie Irving told USA Today. "That's being part of team environment. Even the best teams had to go through trials of figuring out what they look like every day."
"We have all kinds of things we need to be better at," he told USA Today. "Our spirit is good. We're now more comfortable and focused on our tasks. Everybody knows what they need to do when they go in the game and know how we're going to play,"