Playing in front of a revved-up crowd at Little Caesars Arena, in the Pistons' first home playoff game since 2016, Andre Drummond wanted to do it all Saturday night. He wound up doing very little.
Drummond missed eight of his first nine shots, soon lost focus on defense and hardly left an imprint on the Pistons' 119-103 loss to the Bucks in Game 3.
"Tough night," Drummond said afterward, sitting in his locker room stall and shaking his head. "Offensively couldn't get it going. It was just tough."
The Pistons themselves came out cooking, but Drummond wasn't part of it. Oh, he wanted to be. He took six shots in the first six minutes, most of them right near the rim, but couldn't get a single one to fall. Three were blocked by Brook Lopez before they had a chance.
Lopez had the edge at the other end, too. He stretched Detroit's defense with his ability to shoot beyond the arc, and Drummond was often late to close out when Lopez let fly. Then Drummond picked up his third foul late in the second quarter and finished the half on the bench.
"I wanted to make the play instead of making a play," Drummond said. "When things like that happen and it's just not going your way, I just need to continue to keep playing within my game. Just taking my time and not rushing my shots."
By the break, Drummond was 2-10 from the field for four points. He also had three turnovers. Lopez was 6-8 for 15 points, and the Bucks had a 13-point lead. The Pistons would never get back within 10.
Not exactly the night Drummond envisioned.
"I don't even know if there's such a thing as too much energy, but I was just too hyped up and ended up throwing myself off with that," he said. "It was hard to catch my rhythm again after that."
The way Dwane Casey saw it, Drummond allowed his struggles offensively to affect his engagement defensively.
"I thought Andre missed some bunnies, I thought it bothered him a little bit and he carried it down to the other end," Casey said.
This didn't sit well with Pistons legend Chauncey Billups, who called Drummond out while providing color commentary of the game on ESPN.
"They need a better effort from him," Billups said, pointing to a couple of "soft" plays on defense. On one, Drummond was late to contest a Lopez three-pointer. On the other, he was stuck in "no man's land" watching the Bucks pick the Pistons apart.
"This is Game 3 of the NBA playoffs, they're down 0-2. You need every possession you can get. You gotta lay it on the line in this moment," said Billups. "That's what this city and this fan base and this culture is all about."
Chauncey Billups is ripping Andre Drummond's effort... pic.twitter.com/DdJf5OwaXK
— Mike Sullivan (@MikeSullivan) April 21, 2019Things turned from bad to worse for Drummond when a portion of the crowd began booing him. He said he didn't notice it, but it was hard to miss. Blake Griffin seemed to notice, and later came to Drummond's defense.
"You never want to hear that, especially from your home crowd," Griffin said. "He's busted his ass and played hard for this franchise for I don't know how many years. We wouldn't be where we are without him. If that was directed at him personally, then I don't really understand it."
Griffin said he didn't sense that Drummond was overexcited to start the game, though he did pull him aside in the second quarter to tell him to slow things down on offense. By then it was probably too late.
"He seemed a little bit frustrated, he might have just rushed a few here and there. But like I said, we leaned on the big fella all season long and he's a big reason why we're in the playoffs," said Griffin. "One game that was maybe subpar for him doesn't distract us from the fact that he's an anchor for us.
"As teammates, we're there to pick each other up."
On this night, Drummond needed it. On the next night, Game 4 on Monday, the hope is that he's learned and moved on.
"I know Andre is going to make those shots," said Casey. "He just has to take his time, go up and finish. That's part of his growth, especially in a playoff atmosphere where everything is magnified, every possession, every shot. Every camera is on you. Leanring to grow in that situation is his next step of his career."
