Pistons news: Blowouts, silver linings and the East/West divide

The Detroit Pistons had only been blown out once all season until last night, when they were soundly eviscerated by the Memphis Grizzlies in the latter three quarters of the game. 

The Memphis bench dominated Detroit’s, led by Marcus Smart, who took over the game at one point and ended with 25 points on 7-of-11 from long range. Smart had made six three-pointers all season before last night, so it was nice of the Pistons to get him going. 

Detroit coughed up 20 turnovers and allowed a whopping 60 points in the paint, so they are lucky the final score was that close. 

The Pistons will need short memories, as they have a tough stretch of the schedule coming up that could undo the improved start to the season. 

There were a couple of silver linings, which is all you can grasp onto on a night like this. 

Silver linings in the Pistons blowout loss to the Grizzlies 

None of the starters played more than 22 minutes last night, so should be well rested for Friday’s road game against Indiana. You know things are bad when your starters not playing because it was such a blowout is one of the only positives. 

But the big minutes for the bench will hopefully pay dividends down the road, as the Pistons are going to need their second unit to start scoring points.  

After struggling all season and on the verge of losing his spot in the rotation, Simone Fontecchio dropped 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting, hopefully a sign that he is getting back to form after having offseason toe surgery. 

As someone who broke a toe last year, I can say it was a while before I was able to dunk (er, ummm, I mean walk) with the same confidence. 

Ron Holland II and Marcus Sasser both had season highs, and the rookie knocked down both of his 3-point shots, hopefully a sign of better day to come from long range. 

That’s it, that’s all I’ve got. 

The Pistons were simply beat by a better team on a night when both were missing their best players. The West beating up on the East has been a common theme this season. 

The Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference 

There isn’t any argument about which is the superior conference this season, which has been the case for quite some time, as the West has long dominated the East. 

Memphis must have been loving it last night, wondering if this is what it would be like to play in the East, a move that may happen if and when the NBA expands. 

The East still only has four teams with winning records, while the West has 10. The 10th-seed Spurs would be the 5th seed in the East and teams like Minnesota and Sacramento aren’t even in the play-in picture in the West at this point.

The West has a 49-32 record against the East, and if I were a fan of Cleveland particularly, I’d be wondering how much of their 17-2 start is down to playing in the East, as they have played all but four of their games against the lesser conference. 

This is why it’s imperative that the Pistons get Cade Cunningham back before their upcoming Western road trip, which could be the stretch that sends the Pistons in a different direction.