Detroit Pistons: 3 biggest positives from preseason loss vs. the Knicks
The Detroit Pistons were much better on the boards
The first two preseason games exposed a problem that could be a big deal for the Pistons this season and that is rebounding.
The Detroit Pistons were significantly out-rebounded in the first two games which led to their opponents taking 31 more shots collectively.
Related Story. How worried should we be about Cade Cunningham's injury?. light
This is not a recipe for success, and it is definitely something coach Casey talked about to his team when he was preaching effort.
The Pistons were much better against the Knicks, winning the rebounding battle by a single board.
However, there are some huge caveats to this, so don’t get too excited. The Knicks were missing their two centers in Nerlens Noel and Mitchell Robinson, who almost certainly would have flipped the rebounding advantage to the Knicks.
The Pistons also gave up 14 offensive rebounds, again, hardly a recipe for success, as they just got lucky the Knicks didn’t capitalize, as they only took two more shots than the Pistons overall.
Detroit had 15 offensive rebounds of their own, but a huge part of this was that they were shooting so many bricks that there were plenty of opportunities.
In other words, we should still be very concerned about this team’s rebounding.