Trick or treat season may last all year for the Detroit Pistons, who dropped their preseason finale in an ugly loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
The Pistons were coming off a win over the Thunder that had plenty of positive developments. The team defended well and got big contributions from Cade Cunningham and Ausar Thompson.
Hardly anything went right in last night’s loss, as the Pistons didn’t have the same defensive energy early on, turned the ball over carelessly and were broke from the field, three-point line and even the free-throw line. After going 32-39 from the line just the night before, the Pistons were a pathetic 9-for-16 last night, just 56 percent or roughly what most people would shoot blindfolded with their off hand.
Detroit did limit themselves to just 14 turnovers, but several of them came early on (which set the tone for the game) and were of the “careless” variety. Towards the end of the first quarter, Cade Cunningham threw a lazy, careless pass on the perimeter that was picked off and taken the other way for a foul. He absolutely has to stop doing this, as Cade seems to have 1-2 of these every game. He’s too smart to make these plays. The Pistons as a team have to avoid these kinds of apathetic starts, as they got behind by double digits in the first quarter and were never able to get it back.
Get ready for the extreme ups and downs with this team, as they are going to look like a playoff team one night and completely crap the bed the next. It’s going to be trick or treat all season, but the key will be to harness more of the good and find consistency with the things they can do well, which includes coming out each and every night ready to defend.
How serious is Killian Hayes’ injury?
Can Killian Hayes catch a break? We mostly spent the offseason talking about how this was a make-or-break year for him, how he could be out of the rotation and possibly even traded.
Instead, Hayes has been one of the best Pistons players during the preseason, looking aggressive and quicker with the ball, knocking down shots and playing smothering defense that stood out to Monty Williams, who is focused on that end.
With Bojan Bogdanovic still out with an injury, it looked like Killian Hayes might find himself in the starting lineup to start the season. Instead, he sat out last night with a sprained knee, and is now listed as day-to-day with the regular season just four days away.
Hopefully, the team is just being cautious and this is not a setback for Killian Hayes, as it looked like he was finally figuring it out and the Pistons need his defense.