The Pistons had their worst game of the season yet in a 116-95 loss against the Cavaliers. The Pistons' immaturity was glaringly obvious in this game, as they had plenty of careless turnovers and poor defensive rotations to give the Cavs wide open shots. At its worst, the lead ballooned as high as 35 and the Pistons were not within striking distance after the end of the first quarter.
The Pistons keep digging themselves into a hole
In every game so far this season, the Pistons have struggled to start on the right foot. Against both the Bulls and Celtics, the Pistons fell behind by double digits in the opening frame. And against the Rockets, they struggled mightily with foul trouble for multiple players. But in each of those instances, they were able to close the gap of their early mistakes against equally talented teams.
The Cavaliers showed the Pistons that there is still a large talent gap between the two teams. Against a team of that magnitude, the Pistons needed to be at their best from the opening tipoff, rather than allowing themselves to fall behind yet again.
They did hold steady for most of the first quarter until an 11-0 Cavaliers run to end the period. During that run, which last 3 and a half minutes, the Pistons had 4 turnovers and 3 missed shots. They struggled to get any consistent offense and at least a couple of the turnovers were primarily caused by carelessness rather than exceptional defensive effort from the Cavaliers.
Cade Cunningham in particular had an awful game and finished with just 12 points while shooting 3-of-14 from the field. He had 5 costly turnovers as well that led to wasted opportunities for the Pistons and easy chances for the Cavs. Unlike previous games, Cade did not have a chance to storm a comeback in the final quarter against a reasonable lead.
Instead of cutting away at the lead, the Pistons showed signs of frustration that let the game get away from them. Players tried to overextend to make big plays, which led to even more offensive struggle. On the other end, the players did not show enough effort and discipline - there were missed rotations and frustration fouls. Jalen Duren was a standout culprit of these mistakes.
If the Pistons want to reach their ambitions for the season, they will need to be more consistent in their execution across the entire game. There will always be cold stretches and runs from opponents, but the Pistons need to have the maturity to weather them without allowing things to spiral. Teams like the Cavaliers are too good to beat with an immature approach, but those are the exact teams which will be standing in the Pistons' way come playoff time.