Charlotte 102, Detroit 78: Fouls, flu plague Pistons

CHARLOTTE – Two members of the Detroit Pistons' young core were plagued by foul trouble.

Another was battling an illness and took a nasty spill that resulted in a turned right ankle.

It's safe to say the Pistons were no match for the Charlotte Hornets on tonight.

Andre Drummond and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were hindered by early foul trouble and point guard Reggie Jackson labored through 29 minutes in the Pistons' 102-78 loss.

BOX SCORE

Six Hornets (32-32) were in double figures – led by Marvin Williams' 18 points and Kemba Walker's 17 points. Al Jefferson added 11 points and nine rebounds.

The Hornets remain on the periphery of the Eastern Conference playoff chase. The Pistons are 29-46 and the loss was probably a death knell to the already dim playoff hopes since they're now 5 1/2 games back with seven games remaining.

But coach Stan Van Gundy isn't worried about the playoffs. He was obviously bothered by his team's energy level, and he didn't want to hear any excuses about the team going through another four-games-in-five-nights stretch.

"We can make whatever excuses for the guys we want, but they didn't play well," he said at the Time Warner Cable Arena. "It's an NBA season we play. Our guys are some of the lowest-minute guys in the league for starters. We have no one in the top 50 or 60 minutes played. So. if they're fatigued, then they're fatigued."

Van Gundy might scoff at such questions, but let's look at Drummond, Jackson and Caldwell-Pope.

Drummond will play roughly the same number of minutes he played last season, his second in the NBA. But Van Gundy is probably asking the more of Drummond than any coach he has have ever had.

Jackson still hasn't started a season's worth of games and is still probably growing accustomed to the rigors of the NBA season.

Caldwell-Pope played 1,583 minutes as a rookie, and he is at 2,356 and counting.

And that's not taking into account the mental fatigue of a season that saw the shocking banishment of Josh Smith, the season-ending Achilles injury to Brandon Jennings and the flurry at the trade deadline that brought Jackson and Tayshaun Prince and sent out teammates D.J. Augustin, Kyle Singler, Jonas Jerebko and Luigi Datome.

Drummond still managed 13 points and nine rebounds, but was 6-for-15 from the field and 1-for-7 from the line. Jackson was 3-for-16 in finishing with nine points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Caldwell-Pope played only 14 minutes and scored two points on 1-for-6 shooting.

"All year there's been a huge difference between him at home and him on the road," Van Gundy's said of Caldwell-Pope. "He's got to get it figured out. I've got to get it figured it out. We can't go long term with a starting (two-guard) that only plays half your games."

Drummond picked up his second foul barely 2 minutes into the game when he climbed over the backs of several Hornets defenders chasing an offensive rebound.

"It was tough – especially losing Andre early," Jackson said. "He got two quick ones so it made it difficult on us all night."

While the Pistons were scuffling with foul trouble, Walker was cooking with 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting in the first quarter.

His triple at the 8:36 mark gave the Hornets a 10-point lead at 14-4.

And his 14-footer sent the Hornets into the second quarter with a 33-25 lead.

The Hornets pushed the lead to 19 points on a Henderson triple at the 6:29 mark of the second quarter. The lead swelled to 20 points on a Bismack Biyombo free throw on the Hornets' next possession.

A short 6-0 Pistons run to end the second quarter cut the deficit to 11 going into halftime. Jackson found Tayshaun Prince on a fast-break dunk to end the first half.

The Pistons had a brief scare in the second quarter when Jackson drove toward the basket and had his short floater blocked by Jefferson.

Jackson came down awkwardly and rolled his ankle. He immediately fell to the floor with a pained grimace, clutching ankle. But he didn't stay down long and was able to get back on defense, although he was heavily favoring the ankle.

He stayed in the game for several more possessions before Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy pulled him for roughly four minutes, before putting him back in for the final 2:40 of the first half.

"It was a quick tweak, but you just got to man up and play," Jackson said.

Jodie Meeks led the Pistons with 15 points.

Contact Vince Ellis at vellis@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @vincent_ellis56.