The Detroit Pistons made it a game, but once again came up short, losing their 5th straight, this time to the Golden State Warriors.
Fans are starting to get that “here we go again feeling” but don’t give up just yet, as this is one of the toughest stretches of the schedule and even those of us who were optimistic in our predictions still had the Pistons getting throttled in November.
Panic, no, but some things are starting to pile up around the Detroit Pistons.
The Detroit Pistons defensive rebounding is letting them down
After a strong start to the season, the Pistons have dropped all the way to 17th in the NBA in defensive rebounding per game and 21st in defensive rebounding percentage. It was the story of the game last night, as the Warriors racked up 17 offensive rebounds, which offset the fact that the Pistons held them to just 29 percent shooting from long range. It doesn’t matter how good your defense is if you don’t finish it by getting the rebound, and it’s inexplicable that a team that runs so many bigs and quality rebounders like Ausar Thompson should be this bad on one end.
It certainly isn’t the case on the offensive end, where the Pistons are 6th in total rebounds and 5th in offensive rebounding percentage. It’s easy to get young players to chase down offensive boards, as there is often a dunk at the end of it for their troubles. Defensive rebounding takes more focus, more hustle, more determination and that was an area the Detroit Pistons didn’t have it last night.
The Warriors only have one real center, so the Pistons allowed guys like Dario Saric and Gary Payton II (seven offensive boards combined) kill them for extra chances. You shouldn’t lose a game in which you outshoot your opponent at all three levels and make more free throws, but that’s what happens when you give a team that many second chances. The Warriors took 17 more shots overall than the Pistons and you aren’t going to win many games like that, even if they aren’t making a high percentage of them.
Even with Jalen Duren out, Detroit has to do a better job on the defensive glass.