Things have been tough for the Detroit Pistons since their five-game win streak in the wake of the Blake Griffin trade, but they look to get their season going again against the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.
The Detroit Pistons hit the road and will face the Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum Center having lost four of their last five games.
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Hope seemed to be trending upwards after the team traded for Blake Griffin, winning five games in a row, their equal-highest winning streak of the season.
However, things quickly reverted back to how they’ve generally been since Reggie Jackson was struck down with injury and the Pistons now find themselves in a situation where every game can potentially make or break their season.
Stan Van Gundy and Pistons GM Jeff Bower parted ways with the team’s first-round pick in the Griffin trade, and with the team finding themselves at a 28-30 record and trailing behind the 31-29 Miami Heat in the eight seed things could get disastrous.
With the team’s last loss to the Boston Celtics their chances of making the playoffs are down to 13 percent per FiveThirtyEight.
To make matters worse, the Hornets (currently in 10th) have won their last three games and are gunning for a miracle run at making the playoffs as the Heat has started to falter.
This makes Sunday’s matinee matchup one that could have huge repercussions on the rest of the season.
A loss to the Hornets would inch the Pistons ever so close to dropping behind them in the standings, and if that happens you can say goodbye to playoffs for 2018.
Van Gundy is going to need to quickly figure out this team as currently almost none of the pieces are working.
For the most part, Reggie Bullock, Stanley Johnson and James Ennis have been the rare bright spots in this current rotation.
Bullock has been a revelation this season and in his past 11 games is averaging 14.7 points on 47.7 percent shooting from the three-point line and 49.2 percent from the field.
His shooting from range has been so scorching hot that he’s currently third in the league with 44.6 percent from deep over the entire season.
Only Joe Ingles (45.3) and Klay Thompson (45.4) are shooting better than him.
Bullock’s shooting has become such a weapon, but unfortunately, he rarely gets to showcase it over an entire game.
Far too often Bullock starts the game hot but finds himself being shut out of the offence in the third and fourth quarters.
If he starts Sunday’s game off with the hot hand yet again, Van Gundy has got to ensure that he keeps being fed the ball until the final buzzer.
Similarly, Stanley Johnson has been enjoying a great run alongside Bullock ever since he returned to the starting lineup.
In his past 10 games, Johnson has averaged 13.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.1 steals.
Unfortunately, his shooting percentages still aren’t where they need to be, but the fact that he no longer looks afraid to shoot and is constantly looking to attack is a positive for the future.
He’s been a nightmare for opposing defences on the fast break and just like finding Bullock more shots, the Pistons need to find Johnson more often in transition.
Ennis has also been providing the team with some much-needed spark off the bench.
Since coming over to Detroit from the Memphis Grizzlies he’s averaged 9 points and 3 rebounds in 18.3 minutes off the bench while shooting 54.2 percent from the field.
The athleticism of Ennis has been a big positive in the second-unit, but unfortunately, the rest of the bench hasn’t exactly been on fire as of late.
Jameer Nelson, in particular, has had a rough time fitting in.
He’s been nothing short of awful since landing in the Motor City and his 37 percent shooting from the field and 10 percent shooting from deep are killing the team.
The Hornets are middle of the league when it comes to bench scoring (36.2 points per game puts them 16th), but they might as well be the best in the league with the way the Pistons are playing currently.
Defensively, the biggest question for the Pistons will be whether they can contain Kemba Walker.
During the Hornets win streak, he’s averaging 25 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 2.3 steals and shooting exactly 50 percent from three.
Those are scorching hot numbers and there are huge question marks over the Pistons’ ability to shut down a player of his calibre.
If Walker gets off the chain it’s highly unlikely the Pistons will have much shot at snapping the Hornets’ win streak.
And if that ends up happening the hopes of making the playoffs will almost be out of reach.