Pistons news: The last team, moral victories, 3rd and 4th quarters
For the third time in the last five seasons, the Detroit Pistons have started with an 0-4 record.
The good news is that they were in every game. The bad news is that they lost all of them and fans don’t care about moral victories. Last year was supposed to be the developmental year, the time when we could talk about progress and scrappy losses. This year fans want wins and you can’t blame them.
They’ve yet to get one, as the Pistons and Jazz are the final two teams in the NBA who haven’t won a game. The Wizards have won. The Nets have won. The Hornets, Bulls, Raptors and Trail Blazers have all won.
Who will be the last winless team? Detroit will get a shot at a shorthanded Philly team tonight, hoping to leave the Utah Jazz with the dubious honor.
Related Story. Pistons are giving Jaden Ivey the gift Monty Williams stole from him. Pistons are giving Jaden Ivey the gift Monty Williams stole from him. dark
If you want to see the full range of how good and bad the Detroit Pistons have been during the first four games of the season, you only have to look at the 3rd in 4th quarters, where they have been brilliant and awful in equal amounts.
Detroit Pistons in the 4th quarter: Cade Cunningham needs help
One of the running narratives of the season is how bad the Pistons have been in the 4th quarter, as they’ve had chances to win all of these games but stunk it up in the last frame and blew it.
They have not executed well, have missed a ton of open shots and have been soundly thrashed in the 4th quarter.
A lot of this has been put on Cade Cunningham, who does have to be better, but the whole team has been bad in the 4th, especially on offense.
Cade’s offensive rating drops from 107 overall to 84 in the 4th. Duren is at 87, Jaden Ivey 93, Tobias Harris a pathetic 79.7 and Tim Hardaway Jr, Isaiah Stewart and Ron Holland II have been even worse.
The Pistons have an astounding –7 margin in the 4th quarter, which is easily the worst in the NBA.
It starts with Cunningham, but the Pistons have missed a ton of open shots in the 4th, particularly Tobias Harris and Tim Hardaway Jr., two guys they are counting on for buckets.
I don’t want to make excuses for Cunningham, but he’s been carrying this team offensively for the first three quarters only to see double and triple teams in the 4th when teams try to shut him out.
Either someone has to start hitting the open looks Cade is creating off these 4th-quarter doubles and traps, or the Pistons have to do more to get these players involved early so that Cunningham doesn’t have to use all his gas keeping the team close in the first three quarters.
JB Bickerstaff needs to find a way to get guys like Tobias Harris quality early looks to take some of the late-game pressure off Cade.
As bad as the Pistons have been in the 4th, they’ve been amazing in the 3rd quarter, when their +4.8 margin is 8th in the NBA overall.
Cunningham and Ivey have been particularly brilliant in 3rd quarters, with a +20 and +31 net rating, respectively.
This is something they can build on, but it won’t matter how good they are in the 3rd if they are just going to give it all back in the 4th anyway. The Pistons are still consistently inconsistent and need to put together complete games from start to finish.
manual