The Detroit Pistons are a young, rebuilding team, so there aren’t many games on their schedule that I expect them to win.
They were going up against the NBA-best Warriors last night and were nine point underdogs, so this wasn’t one they were expected to win either, but the thing is, they should have.
The Warriors were on the second game of a road back-to-back and had most of their starting lineup on the bench including MVP frontrunner Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
This was a game the Pistons should have won, but instead were embarrassed for most of it by the Warriors’ bench, who ran circles around the lifeless Pistons most of the night before Detroit made a furious comeback in the 4th quarter.
It was nice to see them keep playing, but that effort should have been there all game and it just wasn’t. The Warriors were getting wide open shots and layups all night and the Pistons looked completely checked out for most of the game outside of a few guys.
It was a frustrating loss that should have been a win, but that is just one takeaway from this game.
Detroit Pistons: It might be time to sit Killian Hayes
I felt bad for Hayes last night, as he came out and hit his first shot and was playing with a lot of pep and hop on defense.
But he couldn’t stay out of foul trouble and looked again to have aggravated his hand injury.
This has happened several games in a row now, as Hayes can’t seem to get past this sprained thumb, which is a tough injury to overcome when it’s on your dominant hand.
It might be best to sit him for a few games so he can get that thumb back to full strength, though this is an injury that he might just have to learn to play with for the time being.
The Pistons could move Frank Jackson (who has come on the last few games) into the starting five with Cade Cunningham and bump Saben Lee up on the depth chart as the third PG behind Cory Joseph.
It’s a shame because it looked like Killian was primed to have a big game last night, but this thumb injury is concerning and he keeps tweaking it night after night.