The Detroit Pistons have won five straight heading into tonight’s matchup with the Golden State Warriors.
If it seems like forever since the Pistons had a winning streak like this, it’s because it has been, as Detroit hasn’t had a five-game winning streak in over five years, the last one coming in March of 2019.
The Pistons haven’t had a winning record this late into a season since the 2017-18 season. Tobias Harris, strangely, was part of that team too.
There has been plenty to like during this most recent streak, which will hopefully extend tonight.
3 Under 100 points for the Detroit Pistons
In three of their five wins during this streak, the Pistons have held their opponents to under 100 points.
They’ve had a 104.1 defensive rating in that span and have moved up to 13th in the NBA for the season with a defensive rating of 113 overall. These aren’t the 2004 Goin to Work Pistons by any stretch of the imagination, but when you consider they were dead last in the NBA last season with a defensive rating of 118, this is a huge improvement.
With Jaden Ivey out, the Pistons need to continue to lock down on defense, which is the most sustainable way for them to continue to improve.
Pistons scoring leaders: It's mostly Cade Cunningham
Malik Beasley led the Pistons in scoring last night, something he has done six times this season, which is third overall on the team.
Jaden Ivey has led the team nine times and Marcus Sasser, Ron Holland II and Tobias Harris have each led the team once.
In the other 19 games, Cade Cunningham led the team in scoring and in all but one of those, he also led them in assists.
Cunningham’s improvement this season has been the catalyst for the overall team improvement, as he is not only scoring in bunches but also setting up teammates and playing quality defense.
But these numbers also show that the Pistons lack a reliable second option with Jaden Ivey out. So far, they’ve gotten big contributions from different guys every night, but you do have to wonder if Trajan Langon will try to make a move at the deadline to add someone who can score around 20 per game more consistently.
Ivey’s current timeline is set for re-evaluation in 4 weeks, but it seems extremely unlikely he’ll be back in that kind of time frame, and many doctors agree, as some have assessed that Ivey will more likely miss 4-6 months, not weeks.
In that case, the Pistons may be more inclined to make move, but as long as they are winning, there is no reason not to ride this wave out and see where it takes them.