The Detroit Pistons improved in a lot of ways last season, and clutch performance was one of them. Last year in games that came down to the clutch (5-point game within the last 5 minutes) the Pistons finished with a respectable 21-23 record. This was an astronomical leap from their 8-27 record the year before but there is still room for improvement.
The Detroit Pistons in clutch time
While the Pistons had a solid record in the clutch, they actually had a pretty bad net rating of -8.9, meaning they were outscored by nearly nine points per 100 clutch possessions. This indicates that the Pistons were allowing games to get down to the clutch that they should have put away earlier, or that they were getting blown out in otherwise close games.
The Pistons had some difficulties on both ends in the clutch. On offense, their struggles came in the form of turnovers - they had the 5th worst assist-to-turnover ratio in the entire league during the regular season. In many late-game scenarios, the Pistons can find themselves bogged down by a stagnant offense that is too reliant on Cade Cunningham. When he gets heavily pressured and double-teamed in the clutch, he has a tendency to throw the ball away. Unfortunately, this can also create defensive problems if the opposing team is able to get runout easy buckets off of turnovers.
The Pistons will need both individual and team improvements to fix their crunchtime offense. Cade will need to be more careful with the ball and navigate defensive pressure better. Better player movement and the rise of a secondary scorer (hopefully Jaden Ivey) will also help lessen the burden on Cade and lead to better offense overall.
Oddly, the Pistons also had the 6th-worst defensive rating in the clutch last year. For a team that prides itself on defense and finished top 10 on that end overall, it’s surprising to see them struggle in the clutch. Part of it is likely due to the prevalence of perimeter players in the clutch, since the Pistons' defense is stronger protecting the rim. Outside of Ausar Thompson, they generally lack lockdown defenders for perimeter scorers. And even Ausar is a very young player who still lacks the experience necessary to excel in the clutch.
Clutch situations often translate directly to the playoffs, so the Pistons will hope to perform better there going forward. As the team matures and gains experience, they should improve and see benefits in both the regular season and postseason.