The Detroit Pistons lost their first game of the season in a hard fought battle against the Chicago Bulls.
It was a frustrating loss, as the Pistons were winning for most of the game before ultimately failing to execute down the stretch.
This is going to be an issue all season, as the Pistons are a young team that is still learning how to win close games.
This task was made more difficult by the absence of Cade Cunningham, as the Pistons definitely could have used his offense, especially in the 4th quarter.
The negatives were obvious, as the Pistons’ shooting was atrocious and ultimately cost them the game. They shot just 21 percent from 3-point range and 40 percent overall, another problem that will probably be around all season.
Killian Hayes failed to make a shot, which brought out the haters on Twitter, who seem to forget that the entire season isn’t decided by one game. The starting backcourt scored just seven points overall, which should be remedied by a healthy Cade Cunningham.
If you are already down or giving up, please stop. It is a long season and there were plenty of positives to take from this game even in defeat.
The Detroit Pistons can hang with a playoff team
I don’t like to give out participation trophies, but it was nice to see the Pistons go toe-to-toe with a legit playoff contender and not back down.
The truth is that the Detroit Pistons would have won this game if Cade Cunningham had played, so even though it still counts as an “L” the young team should gain some confidence from this loss.
They made some bad plays late in the 3rd quarter and down the stretch in the 4th but otherwise it was a tough defensive battle and the Pistons showed they can hang.
I didn’t walk away from this game thinking the Bulls were a vastly superior team, just that they made some shots down the stretch and rode LaVine’s hot hand. He made some tough shots and you have to tip your cap to him, but overall the Pistons were right there and if a couple of their shots fall they win the game.
If the Detroit Pistons play defense like that consistently, they will win a lot of those.
The Detroit Pistons did a good job getting to the rim
Even though the results weren’t always there, I thought the Pistons did a good job of penetrating and getting to the rim, particularly Saddiq Bey and Jerami Grant.
I did think Bey forced a few tough shots, but he also had some nice takes to the hoop where he was able to finish. He housed Lonzo Ball on one play and just bullied him all the way to the rim, which you love to see.
The refs kept their whistles in their pockets for most of the night, so the Pistons only shot 13 free throws, and there were several times when I thought Grant and Bey should have gotten calls but didn’t.
They did call it both ways and let the two teams play though, so I can’t complain about the refereeing too much other than to say that the Pistons will get a lot more of those calls at times.
With a team that struggles so much shooting from long range, the Pistons are going to have rely on getting to the rim and getting to the line to make up for their poor shooting.
Although they didn’t get a lot of calls, the Pistons did try to get to the rim, which is something that will pay dividends later, especially once their best 3-point shooter is back in the lineup.
The Detroit Pistons’ defense is in mid-season form
I thought both teams looked great defensively, which was the cause of a lot of the bad shooting.
The Bulls shot horribly as well, and other than Zach LaVine, the Pistons held them in check for most of the night.
I didn’t really like Casey’s plan of using Frank Jackson on LaVine, as he is too small and LaVine was just shooting over him. Even though he played poorly offensively, I would have liked to see Josh Jackson get more of a chance to try and stop LaVine.
But overall the Pistons’ defense was great, especially on the interior, where they had active hands and were getting a lot of deflections. The Bulls were having a hard time passing the ball without the Pistons getting a hand on it, which is a good sign for a team that is building around their defense.
The Pistons offense is going to struggle a lot of nights, especially with Cade out, but that level of defense will get them some wins, so I was happy with the effort and energy on that end.
It would have been nice to get a “W” there, but the Pistons can’t be too upset, as they played a hard, competitive game and came up just short. I know that sounds a lot like last season but the difference is that last season there weren’t adding Cade Cunningham.