Monday night's game between the Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards was the last game played at The Palace Of Auburn Hills. Pistons' era at The Palace is now over as they move to play in a new Little Caesars Arena from next season. 21 thousand fans were in The Palace for one last time and saw their Detroit Pistons lose to the Washington Wizards. Wizards played without their all-star point guard John Wall and Otto Porter JR. in this game as both of them rested in preparation for the playoffs.
Impressive win for the Wizards
Although shorthanded in this one, the Wizards played with a sense of urgency from the beginning of the game.
They scored 34 points in the first quarter as they took a commanding 34-21 lead and never looked back. At halftime, the score was 55-42 for the away team. Bradley Beal scored 18 points in that first half. Their biggest lead of the game was 15 points midway through the third quarter (72-57). The Pistons managed to cut that lead all the way to just one point with one minute left in the game, but couldn't pull out the win. The final score was 105-101 for the Wizards. Pistons were outrebounded in this one by a big margin (48-36) and went to the free-throw line only five times as they weren't aggressive enough. Washington had 27 assists as a team and shot 50.6% from the field. It was an impressive win for Scott Brooks' team as they remain the number four seed in the Eastern Conference.
Big game for Bradley Beal
With John Wall and Otto Porter not playing in this one, it was Bradley Beal who led the way for the Wizards. He led all scorers in Monday night's game with 33 points. He finished with 33 points, two rebounds, and three assists and also made three three-pointers. Markieff Morris contributed in the win with 20 points and eight rebounds.
Morris and Beal scored 15 consecutive points for the Wizards in the fourth quarter as they closed out the game and got the win.
Tomas Satoransky came off the bench for Washington and scored 11 points to go along with three assists. Washington will end their regular season with a road game against the Miami Heat on Wednesday.
Five players were in double-digit scoring for the Pistons on Monday night. Tobias Harris led them with 22 points and five assists. Ish Smith helped with 16 points and nine assists while Andre Drummond added 10 points and seven rebounds. With Monday night's loss, the Pistons are officially out of this year's playoffs. They will finish out the season with a road game against the Orlando Magic.
