When you’re covering games, you are often mentally writing your story in real time. Very early on, I was imagining myself writing a clever line about how there are no moral victories, but maybe there are immoral victories. Turns out, I was being optimistic.
The Detroit Pistons blew a 23-point second-half lead and lost in stunning fashion to the Brooklyn Nets 107-105. It sends Detroit to its first three-game losing streak of the season, and that streak could easily stretch to four as they have a quick
turnaround with a game tomorrow in Miami against the Heat.
Tonight they were without both Cade Cunningham and Ausar Thompson, and boy was it noticeable. Hopefully, both are able to return in Miami.
In total, the Pistons played about maybe 10 good minutes of basketball in this game, but the Nets were simply unable or unwilling to capitalize on Detroit’s nonchalance, carelessness, and lack of precision. But eventually the scales of justice balanced out, the Nets hit more of their shots, and Detroit never found a way to answer back.
The biggest issue on the offensive end was Detroit’s inability to functionally run its offense. No surprise with Cade out, but even as Detroit was building up its lead, they were often beginning their offensive sets with 10-12 seconds on the shot clock. It’s not like this team is blessed with creators. When it’s taking Daniss Jenkins 14 seconds to get the offense started, it puts players like Ron Holland, Duncan Robinson, Tobias Harris, and Jalen Duren on the back foot.
Defensively, the game was just as disgusting. The Pistons were outrebounded and allowed the Nets to outscore them in the paint. Jalen Duren was not using his size advantage, instead trying to coax foul calls and not making the needed effort to box out Nets defenders hunting for rebounds.
Detroit was outscored in the second half 61-43, and no matter how long the scoring drought stretched for the Pistons, there was never one second of urgency among its players. They thought they could give less than full effort and sneak away with a win against a team on a 10-game losing streak. They were extremely wrong, and it was embarrassing, full stop.
The game was just an all-around disaster, and the noise about the Pistons being too reliant on Cade, too talent-deficient to make real noise in the playoffs, and a bit of a house of cards on offense is not going to go away anytime soon.
I trust in Cunningham coming back, and I trust JB Bickerstaff to use this loss as a wake-up call and a rallying cry. The Pistons were a bit too comfortable sitting at the top of the Eastern Conference for so long. You can call this game a lot of things, many of which are not suitable for young children. But it was most certainly a wake-up call. I hope the players realize it.
