There are a lot of things I wasn't expecting to write about the Detroit Pistons in what has become their weirdest and worst season in franchise history.
I didn't expect to write the words "28-game losing streak," or "Jaden Ivey regression," or "Tosan Evbuomwan in the starting lineup," but I would have bet any amount of money that I wouldn't be writing the following at any point in my life:
Malachi Flynn scored 50 points for the Detroit Pistons.
Flynn has to be one of the most unlikely players to reach that mark, a possible sign that offense has gone too far in the NBA, or that anyone can score 50 if they are the only person on their team who can make a shot.
Flynn was an incredible 18-of-25 on the night while the rest of the team went a combined 25-of-69 for 36 percent. This has to be the strangest box scores of all time, as Flynn was one of only three Pistons to score in double figures on the night (Jalen Duren, Marcus Sasser). The rest of the team scored 41 points combined, with Evan Fournier scoring zero points on five shots and Jaden Ivey logging eight on 3-of-15 shooting, a far too common theme of late for him.
Flynn's night puts an exclamation point on what has been a bizarre season.
Malachi Flynn making history for the Detroit Pistons
Flynn became just the 8th player in Pistons history to score at least 50 points in a game, joining Blake Griffin, Saddiq Bey, Richard Hamilton, George Yardley, Dave Bing, Kelly Tripucka and Jerry Stackhouse. Does any other franchise have two gingers who have scored 50 points? My redheaded wife is going to be ecstatic about this news.
If you want to win a trivia contest, just ask someone the last two Pistons to score 50 points and if they can guess Saddiq Bey and Malachi Flynn then they probably also know all of the words to this song (shout out to Chuck Nevitt):
Flynn may have been the most random, unlikely person to ever score 50 points in an NBA game, as no player in league history has ever scored 50 with a lower career scoring average. This is not far off the likelihood of me scoring 50 in a game, as Flynn's career scoring average isn't much higher than mine:
Malachi Flynn made NBA history vs. the Hawks tonight. No player has ever scored 50 points with a lower career scoring average entering the game (via @ESPNStatsInfo). pic.twitter.com/icq1koYP8Q
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 4, 2024
How does a guy go from 5.2 to 50? It's another inexplicable event in what has been the weirdest Pistons' season that I have ever covered.
At least a Pistons player finally made history for a positive reason (there's some positivity for you, guy who scolded me via email) but they still lost the game, still have the worst record in the league and are still going to finish the season as the worst team in franchise history. Oops, I couldn't hold it, stupid eyes and brain let me down again.
But they've also been the weirdest, so there's balance.