How come the Detroit Pistons only beat good NBA teams?

The Detroit Pistons have one of the worst records in the NBA. However, the top teams in the league get beat by them on a regular basis. Why?

Friday night’s game with the Boston Celtics emphasized that point.

Boston, which made the Eastern Conference finals last year, has played the Pistons three times this year. Twice, Detroit has beaten them, and they would be 3-0 but for a Jayson Tatum buzzer-beater in the second game.

The NBA elite have tons of trouble with the Detroit Pistons

The defending NBA champion Lakers had two very tough games with the Pistons.

At Little Caesars, Detroit thumped the Lakers (without Anthony Davis) by 15. In the rematch a week later (with Davis), it took double overtime and some huge shots by Davis and LeBron James to beat them.

Same thing with the East-leading Philadelphia 76ers.  Joel Embiid had to score 33 points to eke out a four-point win over Detroit. In the second game, with no Embiid, the Pistons ran the Sixers off the court.

Going into Sunday night’s game with New Orleans, the Detroit Pistons have a record of 7-19, only the Minnesota Timberwolves and Washington Wizards have worse records in the NBA, and it is only a game difference.

If the old sports saying ‘You are what your record says you are.’ is true, does that mean the Pistons are one of the worst teams in the NBA.

Well, obviously not.

Let’s look at some of the possible reasons for Detroit’s success against the NBA’s big shots.

The ‘Ambush’ theory: Other teams look at Detroit Pistons record, figure it’s an easy win

It is just human nature for players to get more fired up to play, say, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, than a team at the bottom of the standings led by a former Denver Nuggets role player.

But, as another old saying goes, ‘Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me’.

Some of these shocking upsets have occured after having played Detroit. The 76ers and Celtics should have known they were in for a tough game, since they struggled with Detroit the last time, but still lost.

And with the standings so tight, teams really can not afford to get cocky and assume an easy win. With so little practice time, the top teams can not really assume they can win being on cruise control.