Don’t look now but your Detroit Pistons have won two games in a row and if the season ended right now would be in the play-in tournament.
The season is a long way from ending, but last night was a big win for Detroit, as they were on the 2nd game of a back-to-back against a well-rested Lakers team led by Anthony Davis, who is currently leading the NBA in scoring.
The Pistons jumped on the Lakers right away, built a 20-point lead and most importantly, were able to hold onto it through some adversity and iffy calls by the refs.
It was the second team win in a row, as the Pistons once again had six players in double figures, shared the ball well and took care of it, with only 12 turnovers on the night.
But that wasn’t the only surprising development in the game.
The Pistons beat the Lakers!
I wasn’t expecting that if I’m being honest. Detroit was on the second game of a back-to-back and the Lakers hadn’t played since Friday afternoon.
LA had beaten the Pistons seven times in a row coming into last night and even when the Pistons got up big, it just felt like the Lakers were going to come back, which they did.
Detroit got their 3rd win of the season 56 days sooner than last year, which is truly remarkable.
JB Bickerstaff is a HUGE upgrade
I’ll have more on this later, but it’s hard to overstate what an upgrade coach Bickerstaff has been over Monty Williams.
The Pistons have a clear rotation and roles. Their offense is moving both player and ball and they are sharing it with few isolation plays that aren’t clear mismatches. They have bought in defensively and are giving effort everywhere, even if the results haven't always been great.
JB knows when to call timeouts if the momentum is slipping and did that brilliantly last night, halting a Lakers’ run and getting an easy bucket out of the set play after the timeout. Did Monty even have a set play?
The Pistons are more disciplined, prepared and far more organized than they were at any point last season. I don’t know if this is complimentary to Bickerstaff or an indictment of Monty (it’s both) but it has been night and day.
Can the Pistons fire Monty Williams again?
Isaiah Stewart and Jalen Duren handling Anthony Davis
Ok, so they didn’t really shut him down as Davis had 37 points, but please find me the center that can shut down AD. What the Pistons’ bigs did do was make it difficult for him by contesting everything while also controlling the boards.
Davis ended with just nine rebounds and one offensive board, so there were no second chances for the Lakers. The Pistons dominated the boards overall with a 55 to 37 advantage, adding to their league-leading rebound disparity.
The Pistons had five blocks, three from the centers, to just one for the Lakers, and won the battle in the paint, scoring 58 points to the Lakers’ 50.
I expected AD to go off in this one, but he had a quiet 37 of that is possible, shooting under 50 percent from the floor.
Stewart’s defense on AD was the turning point early in the game and Duren did a much better job in the second half.
The Pistons got a call!
A big moment in the game came when the Lakers were surging and LeBron got an iffy foul call on a blocked shot by Isaiah Stewart in the 4th quarter.
I didn’t think there was a snowball’s chance in Hades that the Pistons would get that call reversed, but fair play to the refs, they finally ignored the Lakers’ incessant whining and made the right call.
The Lakers got nine more foul calls overall (shocker) but not this one, which was a four-point swing in the game and might have saved it for Detroit. Both of Stewart’s blocks came on LeBron, which made them even sweeter.
Stewart only had three fouls last night (though he did pick up a stupid technical, a play he has to cut out), which was a point of emphasis for him after being limited in several games due to foul trouble.
Cade Cunningham cleans it up
Cade had only three turnovers in the game, something we’ve talked about of late and only one of them was bad.
I wrote about the “bad” turnovers Cade commits yesterday and he had one last night when he threw a lazy pass in late transition (it always seems to be in the same spot) which led to a turnover and Duren picking up his 3rd foul.
He absolutely has to cut this one out, as that could have cost them the game, but overall Cunningham was spectacular.
He had 11 assists and made every correct read in the 4th quarter. He was setting his teammates up all game and was happy to take a backseat to Jaden Ivey, who stepped up last night in a big way.
Cunningham notched the 3rd triple double of his career, hit big shots and showed a lot of leadership last night, picking spots to take over in the clutch and getting the Pistons a bucket every time it looked like the Lakers were going to surge past them.
Ron Holland II has his best game of the season
I gave my unsung hero game ball last night to rookie Ron Holland, who gave the Pistons 12 much-needed points off the bench in his first double-digit scoring output of the season.
What I love about Holland is that he plays with a complete lack of fear. He tried to go to the rim on Anthony Davis and picked up a foul on one of the league’s best shot blockers.
He scored on a nice euro-step at the rim and also showed a little floater which bounced in.
He missed all five of his 3-point attempts but all of them were good shots and all of them looked like they were going in. He had three rattle in and out, so Holland very easily could have had 20 points last night. The results haven't been there, but his shot doesn't look bad at all.
He and Stewart really set the tone defensively in the first quarter and helped build an 11-point lead. Holland played with poise and made a big impact on the game on a night when Malik Beasley struggled mightily and they needed someone on the bench to score.
The Pistons were clutch in the 4th quarter!
After putting up a stinker in the 3rd, the Pistons bounced back and won the 4th quarter behind some clutch shooting from Jaden Ivey and Cade Cunningham.
Ivey had so many daggers, but none bigger than a late 3-pointer after the Lakers had cut into the lead and were looking confident.
I kept waiting for the collapse, but it never came, as it was the Pistons, not the Lakers, who were hitting all the clutch shots late.
Detroit shot the ball poorly from 3-point range and didn’t get any calls, but still won the game, which is a great sign, as they did it with defense for the second night in a row.
The Pistons haven’t had a 3-game winning streak in well over two years and have the Hornets up next on the road, which will be a huge game for them to keep the positive momentum going.