The Detroit Pistons lost their 11th straight game to the Chicago Bulls on a night Cade Cunningham didn’t get much help from anyone, including himself.
Cade had 22 points, six assists and four rebounds on the night, but he also committed six turnovers, several of them of the unforced variety, which did not help his team’s cause.
His teammates did little to chip in, as no one else on the Pistons scored more than 12 points even though they shot the ball well as a team and did have seven players in double figures overall.
In the end, it was too much DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine, who took over in the 4th quarter after the Pistons had won the previous three.
This feels like the Detroit Pistons in a nutshell, as they are about 75 percent of a good team, but still not quite able to put together a good game from end to end most nights.
This team isn’t tanking, but the loss did help their case a little, as both Orlando and Houston won last night, the only bright side to losing.
Here are three takeaways from the Pistons’ loss to the Bulls.
Detroit Pistons: 3-pointers and free throws
For once, the Pistons won the 3-point battle, hitting 11-of-31 for 35 percent as a team, which is about as good as it gets for one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the NBA.
The Bulls hit just 3-of-15 for 20 percent, but the Bulls have been proving all season that you don’t need to hit a ton of 3-point shots to be good.
The Bulls are second in the NBA in 3-point percentage but dead last in attempts, showing that it is not always the quantity but the quality of the shot.
The Bulls make up for it at the line, where they are the 3rd-best free-throw shooting team in the league. The Pistons won the 3-point battle, but the Bulls got it back with freebies, hitting 31-of-35 free throws while the Pistons hit just 13-of-17 from the line.
That pretty much wiped out the Pistons’ 3-point advantage and the Pistons helped them make up the rest.
The Detroit Pistons, Cade Cunningham and turnovers
Usually if the Pistons shot 51 percent as a team and 35 percent from the 3-point line, I’d expect a victory, but that wasn’t the case last night, partly because of free throws and partly because the Pistons turned the ball over way too much.
Detroit turned the ball over 16 times last night, and a lot of them were unforced and just lazy, including in the first quarter when the Pistons coughed it up five times.
As I mentioned, Cade Cunningham had six of them after reverting to throwing lazy passes or jumping before he knew what he wanted to do with the ball.
The Bulls were able to convert the Pistons’ turnovers into 13 fast break points, while the Pistons only had four points on run outs.
The Bulls are a smart team defensively and were in the passing lanes all night, but the Pistons have to stop trying to throw passes across court and stop with the lackadaisical pace, as NBA teams are too fast and too athletic to just throw the ball up for grabs.
Detroit is 22nd in the NBA in turnovers, an area they must improve next season if they want to make a leap as a team.
The Detroit Pistons missed Isaiah Stewart
The Detroit Pistons were without center Isaiah Stewart, who bruised his knee in the previous game and will be reevaluated in a week.
Marvin Bagley III started in his place, and even though Bagley III offers more on offense, we saw how much the Pistons missed Beef Stew on the other end.
The Bulls scored a whopping 60 points in the paint and Detroit did little to stop them. The Pistons had just three blocked shots on the night, one each for Saben Lee and Cory Joseph (hardly rim protectors) and one from Jerami Grant.
Nikola Vucevic had his way with Bagley III and Kelly Olynyk, scoring 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting and LaVine and DeRozan got into the lane with impunity all night.
Stewart had been playing well before his injury, and although he is not a prolific shot blocker, his presence makes things difficult, as he challenges the 6th-most shots in the NBA.
Stewart’s physicality and hustle were missed on a night when the Bulls were able to impose their will in the lane.
Next up the Pistons will head to Boston to take on the Celtics, hoping to get back to their winning ways.