It had been nearly five years since the Detroit Pistons had won a game in Brooklyn, but they were able to get one last night behind a huge third quarter and a big game from Saddiq Bey.
The Pistons were fresh off an embarrassing loss that sent much of the fanbase into despair, so it was nice that they bounced back with one of their better performances of the season.
The Nets were shorthanded without MVP candidate Kevin Durant and were on the second game of a back-to-back, but this was still a nice road win for the young Pistons, who focused on not falling behind early and had quick starts to both halves.
This was a point of emphasis after the last game in which they fell behind by 25 points in the first quarter.
Detroit outscored Brooklyn 30-27 in the first quarter and 43-31 in the 3rd behind 15 points from Bey, who led the team with 25 points and nine rebounds.
The defense still left much to be desired, but this was the type of game fans of the Detroit Pistons have been waiting for and hopefully a positive sign of things to come.
Detroit Pistons: Saddiq Bey’s postgame quote is all that fans want
Most Pistons’ fans understand that this is rebuilding season, especially with Cade Cunningham out, so success is not measured by wins and losses but by progress and effort. There hadn’t been much of either of late, which has started a lot of finger pointing among the fans.
For their part, the Detroit Pistons have remained drama free this season, but there was the emergence of some negative body language and clear frustration in the four-game losing streak.
All that fans want is a team that competes for four quarters, and Saddiq Bey made sure to point out that was the focal point in this win against the Nets, and had this to say after the Pistons somewhat redeemed themselves after Monday’s blowout:
"“We knew that wasn’t us, how we came out. We had a good day of practice the next day, got into it, competed. We knew we had to start out better than that and play better through four quarters.”"
It seems so simple, but this is all fans have been asking for all season, competition and four quarters of effort. The mistakes are still going to be there, and this roster is far from a finished product, but effort and energy are things teams can come with every night regardless of talent or experience.
The Detroit Pistons will have a chance to build on it Saturday at home against the lowly Houston Rockets and need to show that they can sustain this kind of competitiveness and effort against a team they should beat.