The Detroit Pistons were predictably blown out by the Boston Celtics last night after getting washed by the Bucks the night before.
Detroit did make a furious comeback with a late barrage of 3’s against Boston’s bench, but it was far too little and far too late to matter.
Cade Cunningham had another big game in the stat sheet, narrowly missing a triple double with 27 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds. He wasn’t far off a quadruple-double if you count turnovers, as he had six of those too, a reoccurring theme for the guy who leads the league in them.
Cunningham was also giving off some strange/concerning body language early in the game and I wasn’t the only one who picked up on it.
Really weird energy from Cade Cunningham tonight. He's got 15 points, but has had some bad turnovers and played very little defense. Worst of all, his vibe seems like he'd rather be anywhere else right now.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) December 5, 2024
He eventually snapped out of it and started dominating, but this Jekyll and Hyde routine is the very thing that is holding the Pistons back this season.
Detroit Pistons: Half-game champions, half-game incompetent
All teams have good and bad stretches in games, as it is just the nature of the sport, especially now that the 3-point shot is so ubiquitous.
Good teams limit the bad stretches and lengthen the good, which is not something the Pistons have been able to do.
Detroit will look fantastic at times, like the 16-4 run they slapped on the Bucks in the 1st quarter of their big NBA Cup game when they were flying around on defense and playing with energy.
The problem is their bad stretches do more than balance it out and the Pistons almost always have a run in the game where they turn the ball over 3-4 times in a row and let the other team have easy hoops.
You can’t turn it on and off against elite teams like Boston, which is what we saw last night, when the Pistons went through the motions in the first quarter before deciding to play hard.
The Pistons are a team teetering on the ledge between being a play-in team and being a bottom feeder and nearly every game is symbolic of that.
As is the play of their best player, who can’t continue to have stretches where he dribbles the ball off his foot 2-3 times in a row and looks like he is thinking about which vegan restaurant to hit after the game.
I am not putting this all on Cade, who has endured a brutal schedule this season, inconsistent teammates and the worst whistle in the NBA. It happened again last night, when Jaylen Brown shot 11 free throws and Cade shot 2.
Cunningham attempts the fewest free throws per game of any high usage player and it’s not even close. He lives in the lane, so I’m not sure what to say other than the guy cannot get a call.
Cade isn't close to the worst offender when it comes to inconsistency and effort, as Jalen Duren and Jaden Ivey are hit or miss on a given night, particularly Duren, whose effort levels fluctuate from play to play.
The Pistons aren’t good enough to only play hard part of the time or to have long stretches where they lose their minds and commit consecutive turnovers, which seems to happen every game. This starts with their best player.