Detroit Pistons smash 3 keys to playoff push right out of the gate

The Detroit Pistons won their 5th-straight game, overwhelming the Spurs in Austin in the second half after briefly getting down by double digits in the 2nd quarter. 

Detroit went on a 19-0 run between the end of the 1st half and the beginning of the 2nd that essentially sealed the game, keyed by Cade Cunningham and a massive dose of Jalen Duren, who was outstanding on the night. 

The Spurs were missing Victor Wembanyama, so had a monumental downgrade in rim protection with Bismack Biyombo starting and the Pistons were able to take advantage, outscoring the Spurs in points in the paint, at times making the game look like a dunk contest. 

This has been the Pistons’ bread and butter, as they have outscored (or tied) in this category in a dozen straight contests. 

Before the end of the All-Star break, I wrote about the most important factors to the Pistons’ playoff push in the final 27 games, and they smashed three of them last night. 

Taking care of business against a lesser opponent 

Without Wemby, the Pistons had a clear advantage down low that they used to control the boards, grabbing 20 offensive rebounds along the way. 

The Spurs were also on the second game of a back-to-back (not that it should matter much after 10 days off), so this was a game the Pistons couldn’t afford to lose. 

Given their last 10 games are brutal, Detroit has to keep beating up on the mediocre and bad teams to have a cushion when they get to that home stretch. 

So far, so good, as every team below them except the Heat lost their last game, giving Detroit a 3-game cushion with 26 games remaining. 

Ausar Thompson’s offense 

It wasn’t a great night for Ausar when it came to shooting, but he was still one of the most important players in the game, as his early defense set the tone and every time the Pistons got a stop he was off to the races, which put the Spurs’ defense under a lot of pressure. 

He only had eight points but added seven rebounds and four assists and his pace really put the Spurs on their back foot. 

Five of his rebounds were of the offensive variety, which got the Pistons extra possessions and he set up teammates for dunks on three occasions. Thompson showed that he has many ways to influence the offense, starting by getting stops and getting out in transition. 

Jalen Duren’s passing 

What can you say about the big man? He’s playing the best basketball of his career, with renewed vigor on defense and brimming confidence on offense. 

He added another five assists last night and has gone over that number in all of the games during this current streak, averaging 5.6 per game in that span. 

Duren creating off the bounce and hitting cutters (or dunkers on the lob) adds another element to the Pistons’ offense that is difficult to stop when you have to focus on Cade and all of the shooters. 

Duren had a dunk last night that brought out late 80’s George Blaha and I thought the legend might jump out of his seat to give JD a high five: 

Duren even led the break and ended up hitting Ausar (who got the rip on the other end) with a lob for an emphatic dunk. 

To me, Duren’s ceiling is all about his offense and when he’s involved the Pistons can hit you from a number of angles.