The Pistons lost a close game to the Jazz and there was plenty to complain about, from Detroit wasting another monster game from Cade Cunningham, to Ausar Thompson not being on the floor for the final play of the game, which resulted in a Utah hoop, but none of that would have mattered if the Pistons had just made a few more free throws.
This is a topic I’ve harped on for years, as it seems as if the Pistons are always near the bottom of the league in free throw percentage, something that always shows up in close games, like last night, when the Pistons lost by two and missed a whopping eight free throws.
They shot just 65 percent from the line, with Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey being the biggest offenders, missing five free throws between them.
The Pistons shoot the 4th-most free throws per game in the NBA, but they are just 29th in free throw percentage after last night. It’s an issue that is eventually going to cost them an important game and it’s something they may need to address in some way.
Detroit Pistons in crunch time
If you look at the bottom five teams in free-throw percentage, all of them are bad except the Detroit Pistons, which should be worrying.
Hitting free throws is not only the easiest way to get points in the NBA, but is how good teams close out games, which is something the Pistons have had a hard time doing this season, as they have blown a ton of big leads.
It makes sense when you look at the numbers, as the Pistons don’t shoot many 3-point shots, which makes it hard to increase a big lead and put teams away, and Detroit misses a ton of free throws, which again makes it harder to ice games.
This is especially concerning when you look at how bad the Pistons’ guards have been this season at the line. Cunningham is the only guard shooting above 80 percent and he is barely there at just 81 percent.
Ivey is just under 80 percent but hasn’t shot many of them, Ausar Thompson has been terrible at Andre Drummond-like levels, Duncan Robinson is shooting a career low from the line and Caris LeVert is almost as bad as Thompson.
The Pistons need to be able to give their ballhandlers the ball late in games and be confident that they’ll knock down the free throws if fouled, but that is not currently the case.
The Pistons may not need a monster trade at the deadline but could use another Dennis Schroder type of move to get a veteran with sure hands who is a good free throw shooter to help them close out some of these games.
It may not seem like the biggest issue facing the Pistons, but look at all of their losses and then how many free throws they missed. It’s a problem that’s going to keep showing up in close games, which does not bode well for the Pistons in the playoffs.