Pistons news: 1st-quarter blues, McGruder sizzling and the Tank

The Detroit Pistons lost by 20 to the Washington Wizards last night, snapping their lengthy one-game winning streak.

Once again, the Pistons fell behind early with a shorthanded starting lineup, which you could almost just copy and paste into the summary after every game.

It was the second game of a back-to-back and Detroit was missing most of their best players, so it’s not surprising, but the 1st-quarter problems have plagued the team all season. They fell behind by 22 in the 1st quarter last night, which has become the norm.

The Pistons are dead last in the NBA in 1st-quarter scoring and their -3.5 margin is the second-worst in the league. The Pistons have a negative net rating in all four quarters this season, but the first is by far the worst, as they are just -1.1, -1.8 and -1.1 in the other three, respectively.

When the Pistons’ front office is evaluating head coach Dwane Casey this offseason, this is one stat they should take into account, as his teams have been ill-prepared at the start of a lot these games.

Detroit Pistons news: Rodney McGruder on fire and the tank is rolling steadily

One player who has been ready of late is veteran Rodney McGruder, who has been shooting the lights out since being inserted as an emergency starter. He hit 4-of-9 from long range last night while leading the team in minutes, something no one thought they’d see this season.

In the last five games, McGruder has hit 55.6 percent of his 3-point shots on 5.4 attempts per game, which makes you wonder how this season might have turned out if he had been the starter all along (I’M JOKING).

He’s averaging 12.6 points and 3.8 rebounds in that span. He and Cory Joseph would likely make nice additions to the back end of a good team’s bench this offseason.

Last night’s loss put a full game between Detroit and Houston for the worst record in the league. The Spurs won, putting them three games ahead of the Pistons and the Rockets have the same number of wins but two fewer losses.

It’s all but certain that Detroit will finish with one of the bottom three records, but at this point, they may as well go for the worst record overall, as it will keep them from falling further than 5th in the 2023 NBA Draft.