Cade and Killian were clicking in Pistons’ comeback loss vs. Suns

The Detroit Pistons made a nice comeback against the Phoenix Suns but still came up short. Here are three instant takeaways from the Pistons 8th loss in a row.

Phoenix is a dang good team right now

While many of the Detroit Pistons recent contests have reflected their youth and inexperience, Detroit put forth a commendable effort against the red hot Phoenix Suns who are now sporting a league-best record of 19-3.

However, their effort never really mattered in the end.

Phoenix employs a multifaceted attack team on both sides of the ball that Detroit simply cannot go toe-to-toe with given their current roster construction, ultimately resulting in a 103-114 defeat of the Pistons Thursday night. Chris Paul is one of the most frustratingly productive players in the entire league, and they have no shortage of talent in many high quality role players who find ways to impact the game.

If Detroit is able to keep pace with their idealistic timeline, the Pistons likely won’t be able to match the level of play of a team like this for another 2 or 3 years. Hopefully they will be able to round out and install the main cogs to this rebuild between the next draft and ensuing free agency classes, as the Pistons will likely be spenders with a lot of money coming off the books in the near future.

The Detroit Pistons won’t win in the face of mistakes

It’s been quite well documented within the community, but it’s clear that the Pistons will not win games when they surrender small mistakes throughout the game. Specifically during the course of this game, they lost the rebounding battle 52-41.

Their shooting percentages also paled in comparison to those of the Suns, who shot a scorching 57.1% from deep compared to Detroit’s 40.7%, which was already well above their season average of 29.5% – good for dead last in the league.

The Pistons rank in the bottom third in the league in the following statistics: points per game, opponents points per game allowed, average score margin, assists per game, total rebounds per game, and assists per turnovers. However, they rank in the top 10 in assists per field goal. It’s pretty clear that playmaking is a focus of their offensive attack, and once these small mistakes are mitigated they have bright spots to build off of.

Cade Cunningham and Killian Hayes are finally clicking

Both members of the Pistons backcourt of the future have received perhaps unfair amounts of criticism. While both have experienced legitimate shooting woes at times, they both seem to be finding more and more comfort on the court. It was clear that Cade struggled a bit while Killian was out with the thumb injury, and it’s nice to see them feeding off each other’s production. In this contest, they led the team in plus/minus, at +5 and +8, respectively.

Cade Cunningham followed up his career best 26-point effort on Tuesday night in Portland with another impressive performance in this one. He finished with 19 points and 5 assists to go along with an ever-improving jump shot. He is incredible at picking his spots this early in his career, and when he’s shooting consistently, he’s a good bet for 15+ points on any given night.

As impactful as Killian Hayes has been without producing gaudy numbers in box score, once he’s able to escalate his statistical production, he will be an impact player. With that being said, he did put up quite a productive first half, with all 10 of his points coming in the first 24 minutes. Unfortunately, the latter half of the contest was much quieter for him, but he still impacted the game with his defense and steady ball handling.

Going forward

Let’s hope the Detroit Pistons can build off this performance and find a way to preserve the highs while continuing to eliminate the lows. Their shooting is bound to improve as the season wears on, and Thursday night was certainly promising.

With the conclusion of this one, the Pistons’ 10-day, 5-game road trip finally comes to an end. Looking ahead, they host Oklahoma City (who was on the wrong end of the largest margin of victory in NBA history on Thursday) on Monday, and Washington on Wednesday. Hopefully they can pick up a win against the faltering Thunder squad before taking on the 3rd seeded team in the Eastern Conference in Washington.

As for now, we can enjoy the improved play of not only Cade and Killian, but Jerami Grant and Isaiah Stewart as well, who deserve praise for their output in this effort.