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.

Better than record theory: Detroit Pistons are a better team than their record shows

This is statistically true. In Basketball-Reference’s projected record, the Pistons should be 9-17 at this point.

Let’s remember the games (T-Wolves, Cleveland) where Detroit had the a win virtually sewed-up, only to suffer fourth quarter collapses of such epic proportions, they ended up losing.

There are also some games (first Bucks game, Suns, Jazz) where they started off so slow, giving the other team 20+ point leads, that even though they outplayed them for them for 3 out of 4 quarters, it was too big a deficit to make up.

If you simply rated the games by Detroit outplaying the opponent, rather than wins and losses, it would be even.

On most nights, Detroit does not look like one of the worst teams in the NBA, they just lose. However, maybe, they have extra incentive to show up the titans of the league.

Coaching theory: Is Dwane Casey outcoaching the other team’s coach so badly, it makes up for talent deficit?

I know a lot of people will be upset with this theory.

Despite his many detractors, Casey is a former NBA Coach of the Year and won a lot of games in Toronto.

It was the playoffs where he got tripped up, but he has always been thought of as a top-notch regular season coach.

Is Casey running rings around Brad Stevens, Frank Vogel and Doc Rivers? Well, he has beaten all three of them with what is arguably inferior talent. That is the very definition of outcoaching.

Here are things we have seen from the Casey coached Pistons this year:

• They hustle, you rarely see Detroit get outworked.
• They do not get intimidated. While some teams might have laid down at the sight of LeBron James, Detroit takes the fight right to him.
• Pistons have shown, time and again, a great competitive spirit. No matter the score, they are always playing hard until the end.

Some fans have a problem with Casey’s rotations and, sometimes, a pattern is hard to discern from game to game. However, he always has the team ready to play.

In the NBA, particularly with a compacted schedule, some teams honestly do not give 100-percent effort every game. Even his worst detractors have to admit Casey does have them working hard.

‘See me, hear me’ theory: Detroit Pistons players want to show their skills vs. better teams so they will trade for them

What better way to get the attention of an NBA contender than to beat them?

For the young players on the Pistons, this is the start of a journey. The plan is for them to grow and learn together (and add Cade Cunningham). The losing is not fun, but development is more important than standings for them.

However, if you are a veteran (see Rose, Derrick), you have a finite number of years remaining, and you probably would like to spend it on a team fighting for the NBA championship.

Contracts are also coming up for some players, and looking good in big upset wins gets the attention of NBA general managers, who will be looking for help in the off-season.

Wayne Ellington played great against the 76ers and Lakers. Blake Griffin had his best game of the season in the Lakers win. Delon Wright played well in wins over the Nets and Celtics. Mason Plumlee stood out against the Suns and Nets.

We are not saying those players do not try hard against the other teams. But, when you are on a team with a bad record, you want to show, hey, I can play as well, if not better, than the guy in my position on the elite team.

Somewhere down the road, you may want a Daryl Morey or Danny Ainge to have a positive memory of going against you.

Unprepared theory: With so little practice, anything can happen

To have the season run from late December to mid-July and get in a 72-game schedule and full playoffs, teams had truncated training camps and little time for practice between games.

The thought of holding an All-Star game has not gone over well with many tired players.

Teams have no time to practice, no time to prepare and players are tired or getting injured more. How many times has a team, a third into the schedule, have had all 15 players healthy and ready to go.

Also, not the Pistons but other teams, have had to play due to COVD-19 contact tracing, with eight or nine players. That really wears the body out, while those not playing get out of shape.

In this crazy season, even the top teams are not 100-percent healthy or prepared for every game. The Pistons, on the other hand, are fired up to face one of the NBA’s top dogs.

Detroit has been relatively unscathed by virus protocol delays, only two games, so far (Denver and Wizards) need to be made up. Also, except for Killian Hayes, none of its main players has suffered a long-term injury.

For what they are,  the Detroit Pistons are ready to do battle every game. The top teams in the NBA? Maybe not.

The schedule has also not been kind to the Pistons. They have had the toughest schedule in the NBA _ by far.  They have not played the Washington Wizards yet and the Timberwolves once (and that was the opener).

The simplest explanation for Detroit’s success is that, with this schedule, they basically only play good teams, so, if they do win, it will  be against someone with a better record.