MEMPHIS, Tenn. _ After a nice overtime win on Sunday afternoon, the Pistons found themselves in a tough position on Monday.
They were on the second night of a home-road back-to-back, and against a tough Memphis Grizzlies squad that throttled them on Jan. 24.
With a short-handed lineup, the Pistons' task got a bit tougher.
The Grizzlies defeated the short-handed Pistons Monday night, 96-82, at Memphis.
Andre Drummond had 25 points, 18 rebounds and four assists, Langston Galloway 17 points and Christian Wood 14 points and five rebounds for the Pistons (18-34).
Jonas Valanciunas had 26 points, 17 rebounds and four blocks, Dillon Brooks 15 points and Jaren Jackson Jr. 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks for the Grizzlies (24-25).
Observations:
_ The Pistons were severely short-handed after Svi Mykhailiuk was added to the injury report Monday afternoon and Marcus Morris was ruled out _ both with hip issues. Derrick Rose was out because of a left adductor strain, leaving the Pistons with a rotation of eight players, along with Tim Frazier and two-way players Jordan Bone and Louis King, who made the trip to Memphis as additional options.
_ With the shorter rotation, Drummond played with Christian Wood, which made for a bigger front court but also made for odd combinations, with Thon Maker and Sekou Doumbouya and no other options at the power positions. There were some shuffles of those four, but not having Griffin and Morris makes it more difficult.
_ The Pistons did a better job defensively on the Grizzlies' Jaren Jackson Jr., who had 29 points in the first meeting, but Memphis took advantage of the absences in the middle, with Jonas Valanciunas more effective inside and Tyus Jones getting loose for some nice baskets.
_ Reggie Jackson and Sekou Doumbouya had tough offensive games, in which they seemingly couldn't buy baskets. Doumbouya was 2-of-15 from the field, including 2-of-5 on 3-pointers and Jackson went 1-of-16 from the field, with several of the floaters that he's been known for making easily not falling.
