Detroit Pistons: The bad, ugly and really ugly in back-to-back losses

Detroit Pistons: The ugly from back-to-back losses

Points in the paint

This one piggy backs off the last problem, as you aren’t going to win many battles in the paint when the whole team shoots so poorly from inside of the arc.

But the Pistons have also given up a ton of points in the paint themselves, getting outscored 62-40 against the Knicks and 48-36 by the Pacers, two teams that don’t exactly have dominant big men.

While rookie Jalen Duren has provided some rim protection, the Pistons have only blocked four and three shots in the last two games, respectively, and just aren’t scaring anyone from going to the rim.

The guards haven’t been stopping dribble penetration and once players are in the paint, they are not finding much of a challenge, especially from the starting lineup, which has blocked exactly one shot in the last two games.

This is going to be an issue for Detroit, who is undersized (still) against a lot of teams, especially the starting five, which doesn’t really have a center in it. While Stewart holds his own defensively and is very versatile, he’s not intimidating anyone in the paint with his shot blocking.

But this isn’t just all on the bigs or lack of size, the guards are giving way too many free passes into the lane and as usual, Detroit is getting killed on the wing as they try to pigeon-hole either Saddiq Bey or Bojan Bogdanovic into guarding quicker forwards.

Hopefully this will start to get better as the Pistons get some of their guys back, but they can’t continue to have a 20 point disparity in the paint and expect to win.