The Detroit Pistons failed to win their 4th in a row, dropping their final game of the Western Conference road trip to a motivated Nuggets team.
Even though the Pistons won three of four on this trip, I woke to much negativity this morning, which is odd considering few expected such a successful trip.
Most of the animosity was around the Pistons sitting their starters in the 4th (these people clearly didn’t watch the game) even though it was the bench that briefly got the Pistons back in it and forced Denver to bring their starters back.
Then I realized that these angry fans were not mad the Pistons lost, they were mad because they had bets on individual players that they lost because Detroit didn’t have them in the game.
Just an observation, but the league’s full-on embrace of gambling has caused a huge chunk of its fanbase to care about nothing else. Also, if you are betting parlays all the time and feel the need to curse out a player because he came up a rebound short, you need to examine your life. Seriously, get help.
In all of the talk about NBA ratings, two things are being overlooked: Young fans using illegal streams to watch games because they are blacked out in their area, and the ubiquitousness of gambling, which has caused many fans not to care about the outcomes of games unless it affects their stupid 8-team parlay.
Anyway, the Pistons lost, but I can’t get too mad about it after an otherwise successful trip, and there were a few bright spots in the game.
Change to the starting five may be coming
I’ve been reluctant to talk too much about this, as I do think there is value in having set roles for players, especially for the young guys coming off the bench.
But one of Tobias Harris or Tim Hardaway Jr. needs to be benched in favor of Ausar Thompson and maybe last night’s game will be the final straw.
So far, JB Bickerstaff hasn’t hinted at any such change. I think this has less to do with the veterans and more to do with keeping the young guys in smaller, defined roles so that they don’t get exposed.
I like the way the Pistons have brought Holland II along slowly, not putting too much on him before he is ready.
But the two dynamic wings were 10-of-17 last night and never stopped playing hard even when the game looked well out of reach.
I’m of the mind that should be rewarded and I hope this is the game that causes JB Bickerstaff to make some changes to the starting five.
Even if he doesn’t, we should see progressively more of Thompson and Holland as the season goes on.
Malik Beasley retakes the lead
With three more made 3-pointers last night, Malik Beasley is once again leading the NBA in made 3-pointers this season.
This is one of the most fascinating stories of the year, as Beasley is a bench player doing this and on pace to be just the 4th player in NBA history to make more than 300 from long range in a season.
The other three were Steph Curry (x5), James Harden and Klay Thompson, all starters who played big minutes for their teams.
What Beasley is doing is unprecedented and he has a shot to lead the NBA in 3-point makes as a bench guy, which is wild.