Pistons injury no one is talking about could quietly swing the series

The Detroit Pistons’ bench has not provided much scoring in these playoffs, and injuries have cost JB Bickerstaff a possible weapon in Kevin Huerter. 

Huerter has been injured for most of the playoffs, as he has only appeared in four games so far. He may not have played much against the very physical Orlando Magic anyway, but JB Bickerstaff has already made tweaks to his rotation in the Cleveland series, and it would be nice to have Huerter at his disposal. 

Huerter showed signs of being a competent scoring option off the bench, a guy who can hit the occasional 3-ball and create off the dribble, but those flashes haven’t been consistent and they’ve been mostly non-existent during the playoffs, much of which he’s watched in street clothes. 

Huerter was a game-time decision last night, so we may yet see him in this series, and he could be an X-Factor that Detroit desperately needs. 

The Pistons’ bench is a concern 

The bench was a big concern coming into this series, and game one did little to quell it, as Max Strus nearly outscored the Pistons’ bench by himself. 

The Pistons don’t have a consistent double-digit scorer off the bench, and Caris LeVert has done little to make us think he is going to be it. 

Cleveland is still a good defensive team, but not nearly as physical as Orlando, so this is a series where Huerter might be able to find more space for his shot, something the Pistons are going to need. 

Detroit probably can’t count on Daniss Jenkins to be the only guy on the bench who can score, and if they continue to get beaten by a sizable margin in bench scoring (Detroit was –8 last night) it’s going to present a big problem if the Cavaliers’ starters are shooting the ball well and can stay out of foul trouble, neither of which happened in game one. 

JB Bickerstaff has little to work with offensively right now when it comes to the bench, and a guy like Huerter could come in handy, as I do fear Detroit’s bench has a chance to get the team run off the floor when the two teams head to Cleveland and they have a raucous crowd behind them. 

There’s only one way to salvage the Jaden Ivey mess 

It’s hard to say the Jaden Ivey trade paid off much for Detroit (or the Bulls), as Huerter never provided much and hasn’t been able to get off the bench in the playoffs for one reason or another. 

The Pistons did move up seven spots in the draft, which was the big payout for Ivey, but that trade can still be a huge win if they can get something out of Huerter moving forward. 

If he can score 10-15 points and swing a playoff game, it will be icing on the cake for the Pistons, and they might need him to, as LeVert is playing poorly and Detroit doesn’t have too many other options. 

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