The 2010s are winding down and our writers wanted to reflect on their highlights of the Detroit Pistons, as few there were it’s a solid list.
The Detroit Pistons can look forward to the 2020s and hope their franchise’s vision improves.
Detroit has been meddling in mediocrity and lack of vision is a key component, as well as a change in regime, a move downtown but also only two playoff appearances (2016 and 2019) and zero playoff wins.
It was a decade that gave the Pistons Andre Drummond, Luke Kennard and Sekou Doumbouya. They traded for Reggie Jackson which, when healthy, has aided in those two playoff runs. So, too, was trading for Blake Griffin, which helped last season but seems to be trending towards a bad beat.
Without further ado, here’s what the Piston Powered team had to say.
Jordan Lederman (@PistonsThoughts): Most memorable moment of the decade has to be the seven-game win streak right after they waived and stretched Josh Smith. Who waives someone less than two years after signing them to a four-year, $54 million contract? The Pistons. It was the biggest example of addition by subtraction I’ve ever seen in the NBA. Brandon Jennings layup game-winner against the Spurs. Anthony Tolliver joining the party. All of it. It was so much fun and it’s such a shame that Jennings got hurt, because that team was skyrocketing towards the playoffs. What a time. It’s been a tough decade, but at least we had a few exciting stretches like this one.
Ryan Love (@RealestRyanLove): It’s been a fairly insufferable decade of Pistons basketball — making “favorite moments” difficult to come by. However, mine would probably be the night Stan Van Gundy coached the Pistons to a rare victory over the Spurs in the Form a bleeping Wall game on Jan. 6, 2015. The Pistons were leading 105-104 in San Antonio with 0.1 seconds left on the game clock. The Spurs had to inbound the ball for some kind of tip-in score to have the chance to win it. This was a time when Pistons fans mostly still trusted the work of Stan Van Gundy. He delivered. The team huddled up and their coach entered the Pistons meme history books by forming a game plan that the Fox Sports Detroit microphones were lucky enough to pick up. “We just form a ****ing wall…” Van Gundy tells his defense in his signature in-game rasp. The team did just that and a young #PistonsTwitter community rejoiced. A beautifully rare win during a time — much like the rest of the decade — where those are hard to come by.
Noah Stump (@noahStump): After waiving Josh Smith in 2015 after an abysmal start to the season, the Pistons traveled to San Antonio on a five-game win streak. They trailed by 17 points after the first quarter. Brandon Jennings hit a game-winning floater with 0.1 seconds and then Stan Van Gundy had the famous timeout. “Form a ****ing wall.” I loved BJ and loved SVG. It was a pairing of the two and a lot of misery early in the season was basically erased in that moment and win for me. We don’t have to talk about what followed that, but yeah, moment of the decade for me.
Eli Bashi (@EliBashiNBA): While this decade of Pistons basketball hasn’t been the most enjoyable, we’ve still experienced some fun things as fans. Probably the greatest moment of the decade, which is going to sound sad, was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope‘s dunk on LeBron James in the first round in 2016. Being at the game, and just feeling the intensity and passion from the fans after the play, it was something I won’t forget and it was a very special moment for me and many others. The rally towels were in the air and Pistons fans had hope.
Steven Bryant (@steven_bryant1): My most memorable moment of the Pistons decade would have to be my first time going to a game in 2017 against the Indiana Pacers. Though a losing effort, it was an exciting time seeing these players in real life and not just behind a monitor. This can be tied into the Pistons move to downtown Detroit from Auburn Hills. The Pistons were finally playing in the heart of the Motor City alongside the other three professional sports teams. Now, we just have to wait for them to get back into the swing of being competitive and the city while become alive with sports fandom once again.
Keith Alrick (@kramerica100): The Reggie Bullock game-winner last season against the Raptors was my favorite game of the decade. Other than that the best parts of the decade for me were probably the jersey retirements and 15-year reunion of the 2004 team. Let’s hope the best part of next decade isn’t the 25th anniversary.
Blake Stackpoole (@BlakeStackpoole): My favorite moment of the decade was Blake Griffin’s 50-point game against Philly.
Tyler Moorman (@TmoormanNBA): My favorite moment is by far, Jan. 16, 2016, when the Pistons beat the record-setting 73-9 Warriors team 113-95 at home. I was lucky enough to be in the building that night and the energy was electric, you could say it was comparable to a playoff atmosphere. That same night the Pistons retired going to work era legend Ben Wallace‘s jersey and it almost seemed like the guys were inspired by it and were out there playing for him.
Riley Nisbet (@rileysnisbet): My favorite Pistons moment of the last decade was beating the Golden State Warriors 113-95 on the night of Ben Wallace’s jersey retirement in 2016, giving the Warriors one of their only nine losses that season.
Happy New Year from the Piston Powered team! What was your favorite moment of the 2010s?