Razor-thin margins catching up to the Detroit Pistons

If you’ve never heard the song “Livin’ on the Edge” by Aerosmith, you are lucky, as it is one of many awful songs the band released in the 1990’s in a stretch of bad music that ranks with the worst of all time. I’d successfully blocked it from my mind until the other night watching the Detroit Pistons, when it popped back in like an unwanted intruder. 

It could be the motto for their season, as the Pistons have been riding razor-thin margins so far that are starting to catch up with them, especially with Cade Cunningham out.

The Detroit Pistons are trying to kill me 

The Pistons are 3-3 in one possession games, a silly number considering they’ve only played 20 games overall. There is always some amount of luck in one possession games, so a 3-3 record isn’t bad for a team that has long struggled to close them out.

But it also reflects just how close they are to being irrelevant, as a couple of things go differently and they could have lost all of them. The opposite is also true, but it doesn’t seem sustainable for a young team. 

The Pistons have played more clutch time minutes than all but one team in the NBA, the Sacramento Kings, who have a similar record and must also be trying to kill their fans via heart attack. 

Detroit Pistons: Not good enough to be bad at anything 

Aside from the latest win against Toronto, the Pistons have had to play well in every category to get a W. 

If they turn the ball over too much, they lose. 

If they lose the rebounding battle, they lose. 

If they lose the 3-point battle, they lose. 

There just isn’t any room for error with this team, as they aren't good enough at any one thing to overcome off nights in another area, which is why you pretty much know how things are going to go after the first half. If the Pistons already have double-digit turnovers or are letting up a ton of offensive boards, you may as well call it a night. 

While Detroit’s defense has kept them in games, their offense is still 22nd in the NBA in points per game and 19th in 3-point percentage. There is no room for them to have an off night offensively even though their defense has been better. 

Detroit has allowed more than 110 points in all but two of their 11 losses, and in those two, they failed to score 100 points themselves. That’s the magic number for Detroit, as their offense isn’t good enough to win them games if the defense allows more than 110 points in the game. 

In all but two of their wins, the Pistons have held teams under that number and one of those was an overtime game. 

Pistons have to be 100 percent healthy 

The Pistons have yet to have their full roster but most of the NBA can say that. In the case of Detroit, every injury matters, especially if that injury is to Cade Cunningham. 

It’s been rough going without him, and with both him and Tobias Harris out last night, the Pistons stood zero chance even though Memphis was missing Ja Morant. 

The Pistons don’t have the quality depth to withstand injuries, so this yet another way they are living on the margins. 

When you have to be perfect to win you know your teams isn’t good enough and eventually that will catch up to you, which may happen to Detroit in this upcoming stretch of games.