It’s laborious to lose to the Washington Wizards. Solely two of their 16 opponents to this point this season have finished so, and the Wizards entered Monday losers of their previous 9 video games and holders of the worst protection in NBA historical past. Usually, a group with a No. 1 total choose in his third season that simply spent practically $80 million on a coach would count on to defeat such an opponent.
The Detroit Pistons could not do this on Monday. They did not even come shut. Their 126-107 loss to Washington was the most important win of the season for the Wizards. For the Pistons? It was simply one other night time. Detroit has misplaced its final 14 video games by a mean of just below 12 factors. For the reason that begin of November they rank twenty seventh in offense and twenty seventh in protection. Cade Cunningham has performed in all 14 losses.
We may sit right here and clarify, in depth, why the Pistons are so dangerous, however we might be right here for hours. We’ll provide the SparkNotes model in three fast sentences.
- No one on the group can shoot.
- Everybody on the group is younger.
- Younger gamers are typically dangerous defenders.
The shortcoming to shoot adjustments your entire geometry of the ground. In November, the Pistons rank twenty eighth in 3-point proportion, twenty second in free-throw makes an attempt and twenty ninth in turnovers. Drivers are colliding with brick partitions within the lane. Throw sufficient lottery picks at any roster and it will definitely turns into respectable. Proper now? The Pistons are dangerous. Traditionally dangerous. A loss in opposition to the Lakers at residence on Wednesday will lengthen the streak to fifteen video games, a brand new franchise document.
Here is the scary half for the Pistons? This streak in all probability lives past Wednesday. In truth, their present schedule suggests it may go on for fairly a while. Detroit’s subsequent eight opponents are all .500 or higher. Listed here are their subsequent eight at the moment scheduled video games:
Very first thing’s first: you seemingly seen the nine-day hole between the third and fourth video games on that record. Two additional video games will fill in that clean. We simply do not know who their opponents might be as a result of that may rely upon In-Season Match outcomes. If Monday’s loss to the Wizards proved something, it is that these Pistons are able to shedding to anyone wherever.
Outdoors of a attainable reprieve in these yet-to-be-scheduled video games, there are not any straightforward nights arising. These eight groups have a mixed document of 81-53. Two of these eight video games are the second night time of a street back-to-back for Detroit, however none of them are on the second night time of a back-to-back for the opponent. The Pistons will run by means of most of this slate at a relaxation drawback.
Do issues get simpler from there? A bit, however solely briefly. A house date with the 5-11 Jazz is adopted by two video games in opposition to the 8-8 Nets. However after that? Detroit is true again at it with the league-best 13-4 Celtics. That is the NBA. The Pistons clearly may beat a superior opponent to finish this streak. However their two victories this season have come in opposition to the 5-10 Hornets and the 5-13 Bulls, so the percentages of it are comparatively low.
For now, the Pistons are solely midway to NBA historical past. The league’s longest shedding streak ever belongs to the Philadelphia 76ers who dropped 28 straight video games, spanning the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. Lower it right down to a single season and the document remains to be 26 video games. The Pistons have a methods to go earlier than they’ve to start out worrying about numbers like that, however with the schedule in entrance of them, there is a cheap probability this turns into a professional fear. Nothing the Pistons are doing proper now suggests an imminent turnaround. As a result of when you’ll be able to’t beat the Wizards, it is laborious to imagine you are able to beat anybody else.Â