Detroit Pistons: A new starter? And other takeaways from loss to Clippers

If you are into watching missed shots, then you were in for a treat in the Detroit Pistons’ loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, because the bricks were flying.

Detroit jumped out to a lead early after holding the Clippers to just 15 points in the first quarter but they gave it all back in the second half when they couldn’t buy a basket.

It wasn’t beautiful basketball by any means, but Detroit did put out one of their best defensive efforts of the season, though the Clippers are near the Pistons at the bottom of the league in scoring.

The Pistons are right back at it tonight against the Lakers, with the league’s worst record on the line, so they won’t have time to stew about the loss.

This one was ugly, and a few grim realities became clear, but there was also one standout positive on the night.

The Detroit Pistons miss Cade Cunningham

This falls squarely into the “no ****” category, as it goes without saying that the Detroit Pistons miss their best player.

But the Pistons had so much trouble getting quality shots last night, as they were left with just Jaden Ivey and Bojan Bogdanovic to create. To Bogs’ credit, he did and went 10-18 for the night, but a lot of them were high degree of difficulty shots that were created out of isolation.

The Pistons were able to get some points off the fast break, but really struggled in the half court even more than usual without Cade and the gravity he creates. Killian Hayes was just 1-of-8 and the Clippers were happy to let him shoot from the mid-range, often causing the half court offense to stagnate and lead to a tough iso shot.

The Detroit Pistons’ offense wasn’t great with Cade Cunningham, but without him there were few easy shots and little threat in the mid-range outside of Bogdanovic.

The Pistons really can’t shoot

I get that Detroit was shorthanded, on the road and playing against one of the league’s best defenses, but wow. The Pistons ended the game shooting 37.5 percent overall and just 19 percent from the 3-point line. If you take Bogdanovic’s numbers out, the rest of the team shot just 32 percent from the field.

The Clippers weren’t much better, which didn’t make this game very fun to watch, but they did hit 36 percent of their 3-point shots, which was the difference in the game.

Part of this was the Cade Cunningham’s absence, but when you exclude Bogdanovic, the rest of the starting lineup was 14-of-55 for 25.4 percent from the field. Even after adding Bogs in the offseason, the Pistons still need shooters, as they just don’t have anyone outside of him that is getting it done consistently.

I am not worried about rookie Jaden Ivey shooting 8-of-21 against a good defense, but Marvin Bagley III was 1-of-5, Saddiq Bey was 4-of-11 and Killian Hayes was 1-for-8 and these guys aren’t rookies. The Pistons need another consistent scoring threat, it’s that simple.

Jalen Duren’s defense and rebounding sparked the run

The Pistons went on a 15-0 run that gave them their biggest lead of the game, and Jalen Duren was a big part of it. He came in and got six points and five rebounds in five minutes and added a boost of energy to Detroit on both ends.

He was disrupting shots and had an emphatic block that led to a Jaden Ivey fast break. He grabbed a couple of tough offensive rebounds in traffic and finished one with a thunderous dunk. His rebounding has been amazing this season, but Duren also gives the Pistons an element of rim protection and athleticism that they otherwise lack.

Duren was +5 last night and having him log the most minutes at center helped the Pistons to win the points in the paint battle for one of the only times this season.

Bagley III still looks out of sorts and couldn’t keep out of foul trouble last night, compounding his problems by picking up a stupid technical foul that helped the Clippers get back into the game in the second quarter.

Duren looked like the better player last night and made a much bigger impact on the game on both ends. I would love to see him get the start tonight against the Lakers and for MBIII to come off the bench with the second unit.

Detroit stinks anyway, they may as well let their rookie get reps and keep building on his already-impressive rookie season.