Rod Beard

The Detroit News

Oakland, Calif. — In the aftermath of the Pistons giving up their 18-point lead in the 100-94 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night, the locker room was quiet.

And one of their leaders, Reggie Jackson, wasn’t posted at his usual spot in front of his locker, soaking his feet in a bucket of ice. Jackson didn’t address media members after the game, as he was being treated for dehydration.

It’s not a new issue, as he had the same situation last season when he got overheated and had to be given fluids. It surfaced again after the game and Jackson was fine, but it’s another signal that he needs to manage his fluid intake better.

Jackson returned to practice on Wednesday at Oracle Arena ahead of Thursday’s matchup against the Golden State Warriors, not showing any ill effects from the previous two games, where he played 47 minutes in the double-overtime win over the Portland Trail Blazers and 31 minutes versus the Kings.

Jackson said he started experiencing issues right after the game and didn’t feel anything that affected him during the fourth quarter of the game.

“It’s on me; I have to do a better job,” Jackson said Wednesday. “It doesn’t matter if I feel it or not — I was out there. I can’t use excuses; I was still out there on the court. If I’m out on the court, I have to perform.”

Jackson finished with 19 points (8-of-15 shooting), including 3-of-5 on 3-pointers. The Pistons (18-22) had a double-digit lead early in the fourth quarter but they wilted defensively and couldn’t stop the Kings’ surge.

Even in reviewing the game video, coach Stan Van Gundy said he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary with Jackson, but after the game Jackson needed fluids to feel like himself again.

“He’s fine; he practiced today. He’s had this a couple of times where he gets really dehydrated and run down,” Van Gundy said. “It didn’t look (on game film) like (he was ailing). His plays and quickness were there.

“He didn’t say anything and we didn’t notice anything, even knowing what we know and going back and looking on film. You can’t see anything. It doesn’t mean he wasn’t feeling it but he was able to push through it regardless.”

Drummond dominance

Andre Drummond had a full stat line in Tuesday’s game: nine points, 12 rebounds, a career-high seven blocks and three steals. But the key takeaway was about maintaining that level of energy on the defensive end and though he helped others on some possessions and they gave up easy baskets, he showed how dominant he could be on that end of the floor.

“His effort was really good defensively. The bigger problem last night was our offense was really bad down the stretch,” Van Gundy said. “He bailed us out on about four lay-ups where we had broken down defensively but he came and made saves. There were a couple where he came to help and we didn’t sink to his man.”

3-point defense falters

Van Gundy also lamented the 3-point defense, which is among the worst in the league over a recent stretch. The issue is the Pistons aren’t aggressive enough in contesting 3-point shots.

On Tuesday, the Kings shot 54 percent (13-of-24) beyond the arc and made their final surge off a flurry of 3-pointers.

“Over the last two weeks, we’ve gotten better. What’s happening to us is people are just lighting up long 3-pointers,” Van Gundy said. “Over the last 10 games, people are shooting 45 percent on above-the-break 3-pointers on us.”

“Some of that is us — we did look at our close-outs today. Quite honestly, we’ve hit a stretch where everybody’s making shots.”

That was a focal point of Wednesday’s practice, with the next game against one of the league’s best 3-point shooting teams, in the Warriors.

rod.beard@detroitnews.com

twitter: @detnewsrodbeard

Pistons at Warriors

Tipoff: 10:30 Thursday, Oracle Arena, Oakland, Calif.

TV/radio: TNT/WMGC

Outlook: The Warriors (33-6) picked up where they left off last season, with a hot start in the first half. But they’ve already lost a few games at home (17-3) and they’re looking for the season sweep over the Pistons after a 119-113 win on Dec. 23.