Detroit Pistons: The good, bad and ugly in tight loss to the Suns

Detroit Pistons vs. Phoenix Suns: The Bad

Points in the paint

The Detroit Pistons are not a team that scores a ton in the paint, as they are just 21st in the NBA in that category. They are also terrible at stopping teams in the paint, as they allow the 2nd-most points down low in the NBA.

It happened again last night, as the Suns scored a staggering 64 points in the paint, to just 50 for the Pistons, which was one of the big differences in the game.

Detroit had no answer for Deandre Ayton, nor the dribble penetration of Cam Payne, who had 10 assists on the night, many of them for dunks.

Getting Isaiah Stewart back will help somewhat, but Detroit clearly needs more help on the defensive end. It doesn’t have to be a center, but they need players who can protect the rim, as they are just 27th in the league in blocked shots and giving up a ton of points down low.

Turnovers

The Detroit Pistons have improved their turnover rate slightly from last season, but it reared it’s ugly head again last night, as Detroit coughed it up 19 times after being pretty good in that area over recent games.

Part of this is because they were missing their two lead guards, as Bojan Bogdanovic was forced to be more of a playmaker in isolation, which didn’t go well, as he had five turnovers himself.

This needs to continue to be a point of focus, as a team that shoots this poorly cannot take possessions off the board with turnovers .