Pistons may have found answers to their clutch-time problem

The Detroit Pistons need to improve their offense when the games are close, something that became apparent in last year’s playoffs. 

Far too often, the Pistons relied entirely on Cade Cunningham in clutch time, which is the last five minutes of a close game. They were able to get away with it for most of the regular season, but it eventually caught up to them in the playoffs, when the Pistons had a hard time getting a shot from anyone that wasn’t Cade. 

Detroit went just 4-4 in clutch-time games in the playoffs, shooting a woeful 37.5 percent from the floor and just 31 percent from long range, which was sadly an improvement on their clutch-time 3-point shooting in the regular season, when they shot just 21.9 percent from long range at the ends of close games. 

This is an area the Pistons have to improve, and hopefully they are now better equipped to do it. 

The Pistons have to be more like the Knicks 

The Pistons and Knicks had a similar record in clutch-time during the regular season, with Detroit actually playing eight more of them and logging a slightly higher win percentage. 

But the Knicks were 6-3 in the playoffs in close games, and the big difference is that they shot the ball well from long range. The Knicks hit 43 percent of their 3-point attempts in clutch time on the exact same number of attempts per game that the Pistons had.

Defenses are going to collapse hard on ball handlers who try to get into the paint late in games, which often leaves open shooters, especially when you have a guy like Cade Cunningham or Jalen Brunson, who create a ton of gravity. 

Cunningham did his part in the playoffs, knocking down 50 percent of his clutch-time 3-pointers, but the rest of his team let him down, as he was pretty much the only one who took any. 

That should be different next season with a new cast of shooters. 

Improved shooting should bolster the clutch-time offense 

The Pistons have added several good 3-point shooters in Isaiah Joe, John Collins, Taurean Prince and (hopefully) Kevin Huerter to add to Duncan Robinson. 

This will allow them to have more than one good 3-point shooter on the floor in clutch time, a luxury they didn’t have last season. The Pistons should be far better equipped to take advantage of Cade’s gravity, especially in the corner, where they were terrible last season. 

When they go offense/defense late in games, they can throw out lineups with Cade surrounded by 3-4 good shooters, which will make it much more difficult to trap and double team him with impunity. 

Trajan Langdon made smart moves to improve an area that could pay dividends when it matters. 

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