3 Takeaways from the Detroit Pistons win against the Indiana Pacers

In a strange game, that was closer than the box score suggests, the Detroit Pistons extended their winning streak. Here are my takeaways from the game.

In a strange game, that looked much closer than the box score will suggest, the Detroit Pistons managed to get their third win in a row. They eventually put the Indiana Pacers away towards the end of the fourth quarter. If you would like to read the full recap, you can here.

Here are my takeaways from the game:

The Detroit Pistons Bench is really good

As some people predicted prior to the season, the Detroit Pistons bench unit is actually really good. They’ve been responsible on a few occasions for extending leads and making shots. Last night against Indiana the bench unit lead by Ish Smith, came in and pushed the pace and scored the basketball. The Detroit Pistons bench scored 38 points contributing one-third of the final 114 points scored.

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The Detroit Piston bench ranks in the top half of the league for points per game, while they currently rank third in points against per game. They are also in the top ten in efficiency recap difference. So while they score an ‘average’ amount of points, they lock down the opposing team’s bench.

The Detroit Pistons main bench unit (currently) is Ish Smith, Langston Galloway, Anthony Tolliver, Eric Moreland combined with a small forward. In a very limited sample size that four man unit has a defensive rating of 69.9.

Stanley Johnson is important for the Detroit Pistons defensively

Stanley Johnson helps the Detroit Pistons defensive structures. He is an instinctive defender and he positions himself well to play good defence, and that is something that replacement starter Reggie Bullock, does not do. Bullock played a decent game, but he’s not on the same level defensively as Stanley. Stanley has the ability to switch to the 2 through 4 defensively if required, he’s big enough to body players, and has quick enough feet to stay in front of players.

Our defense just looked a little off last night against the Pacers. It looked a few steps slow, and missed a few rotations throughout the game.

The Detroit Pistons are for real

The Detroit Pistons have gotten themselves to second in the East with an excellent 8-3 start (while beating some good teams including Golden State and the Los Angeles Clippers)! They currently rank in the top ten for offensive rating, defensive rating, and net rating. If they keep this up, they can welcome playoffs to their new downtown home.

Next: Defense the key to the Pistons start

Tobias is currently 31st in the league in scoring, one place behind Russell Westbrook. Andre Drummond is leading the league in rebounds and is fifth in steals. All the while the Pistons are playing good basketball, and getting the results.