After playing without a significant segment of their roster on Friday, the Detroit Pistons were closer to full health against the Washington Wizards on Saturday. Killian Hayes sat during the second half of a back-to-back, but several key players — including Jerami Grant and Mason Plumlee — returned to the lineup.
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough against a Wizards team competing for a spot in the play-in tournament. Bradley Beal scored 37 points, and Russell Westbrook added a triple-double (15 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists) to lead Washington to a 121-111 win against the Pistons (17-39).
Pistons rookie big man Isaiah Stewart got his second straight double-double with a career-high 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Frank Jackson added 19 points coming off of the bench.
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Jackson’s transformation into a reserve scorer has become one of the better storylines of the season. The former Duke one-and-done, who signed a two-way contract with the Pistons two games into the season, was mostly outside of the rotation during the first half of the season. Since mid-March, he has been one of Detroit’s best shooters.
Entering Saturday, Jackson had appeared in every game since March 15, making 40.5% of his 3-point attempts while attempting 3.1 per game. Four of his five best scoring performances this season have come during his past five games. He scored 17 against the Trail Blazers last Saturday in Portland, 16 against the Clippers in L.A. last Sunday and 18 against the Thunder on Friday.
He and Stewart were Detroit’s most reliable offensive options against the Wizards. Jackson has become a more confident all-around scorer, and his shot attempts have increased with that. Jackson has six games this season — three in his past five games — with at least 10 shot attempts.
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After Stewart’s dominant 15-point, 21-rebound performance against the Thunder on Friday, there isn’t much to say about him that hasn’t already been recently said. He’s playing some of his best basketball, impacting the game as a defender and rebounder while growing more comfortable as a scorer. Dwane Casey compared him to Ben and Rasheed Wallace after his performance on Friday — a high standard, indeed.
On Saturday, he set a new career scoring high after draining a 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter. His emergence as an outside scoring threat — he entered Saturday shooting 40.7% from 3 on 27 attempts — has been a bright development.
Stewart’s beginning to put it all together and finishing the season on a strong note.
