The Detroit Pistons were one of the early surprises of the 2018-19 NBA season when they jumped out to a 4-0 start with star power forward Blake Griffin leading the charge. However, after their undefeated start, the Pistons have lost their last five games, dropping them to the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Part of the issue in the last five games has been balancing the offensive duties between Griffin, who is putting up 28.1 points, 11.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game, and point guard Reggie Jackson, who is trying to re-acclimate himself to an offense very different than the one he led when he was last consistently healthy in the 2016-17 season. With Griffin having such a dominant season with the ball in his hands, Jackson has played much more off-ball this season than he has before.
However, with the team mired in a five-game losing streak, Griffin and Jackson have tried to get on the same page to turn around the team’s fortunes, per Rod Beard of The Detroit News.
“After the Brooklyn game (Wednesday), Reggie and I texted the next day for a long time, going over end-of-game stuff and just encouragement, saying that we would figure things out,” Griffin said. “We didn’t execute down the stretch but did at times in the Brooklyn game. (We said) let’s figure out four sets we really like between me and him.”
The result may be more pick-and-roll offense for Jackson and other plays designed to get the ball more in the 28-year-old point guard’s hands. While Jackson’s numbers have not necessarily slipped, more positive results for the Pistons may be in the cards with the point guard's new level of comfort with Griffin.
“It’s amazing. Honestly, the best part about it was being hard on myself and going home and to get a text from a superstar, it picks your spirits up,” Jackson said. “I’m one of my toughest critics and having a guy like that reach out to me and tell me to keep my head up and work out how we want to play at the ends of games and for us to make better decisions makes me feel about myself.
With three of the next five games against teams with sub-.500 records (the Hawks, Cavaliers and Magic) the Pistons should have a couple of good chances to end their losing streak and get their season back on track.
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