Pistons at Celtics: Detroit Ship Sunk?
By J.M. Poulard
Essentials
- Teams: Detroit Pistons (3-15) at Boston Celtics (4-11)
- Date: December 3
- Time: 7:30 p.m.
- Television: FSD
Get in the Game
As the Detroit Pistons get ready to take on the Boston Celtics tonight, I can only wonder what to make of Detroit’s double-digit home defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Should we take it as sign that the ship is truly sinking? That perhaps even Stan Van Gundy can’t fix these Pistons? If you think these questions border on the irrational, maybe you haven’t been paying attention.
Detroit has lost eight of its 10 home games, with the most recent one generating an abundance of inquiries. The Lakers came into the contest with a really good offense and horrible defense, while the Pistons came with…not much.
Still, Detroit should have been more competitive in its own venue against an opponent struggling to figure out its identity. Instead, the Pistons allowed the Purple and Gold to score 106 points on 48.1 percent shooting.
To be fair, some of that was expected. Detroit hasn’t been a defensive juggernaut so far this season, but it could have at least managed to perform up to its regular defensive standards, which wasn’t the case.
The real kicker came on offense where the Pistons made 36.7 percent of their shots against the worst statistical defense in the league. While Kobe Bryant is busy demanding a certain amount of professionalism from his teammates, one can only wonder if anyone is doing the same for the Pistons.
“I don’t have patience when we’re not putting the work in, if I see that we’re not doing our job as professionals,” Bryant shared after the game with Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski. “If that’s happening, I’ll let my team know about it. But this is not that kind of group. We work. These guys want to get better every day. They’re there early working, they’re there late working.”
Contrast that with the words Van Gundy offered up to MLive.com’s David Mayo:
"The real problem, in my opinion — and I told them this, so I’m not speaking behind their back; I’ll never say something to you I haven’t said to them — we don’t play hard enough. There’s too many nights — in fact, almost every night — where the other team plays harder and with more energy than we do. You don’t deserve to win like that. You don’t."
That certainly makes for a tenuous situation as far the Pistons are concerned. Does the lack of effort stem from the coaching staff’s inability to properly motivate players? Do the players not care enough?
Ah, more questions.
And yet, it’s anyone’s guess when these Pistons will be able to answer any of them. In the meantime, they have the Celtics to deal with tonight on the second leg of a back-to-back set.
The Celtics, losers of five straight, are coming off a tough road defeat against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night and might want to shake off that losing feeling. Boston will likely never admit they’re glad to see Detroit come to town, but it’s safe to say that the Pistons’ nine-game losing streak gives the Celtics great reason to believe they will walk out of their arena tonight with a victory.
Whether that’s actually the case or not, at least that’s one question we will have answered by night’s end.
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