Pistons Have Big Challengers in the East

All right, last thing for you.

I want to talk about the Pistons, uh, who have been the class of the Eastern Conference throughout this season.

I don't know if they've been wire to wire leaders, or if they've been damn close.

Uh, basically the last few months been the number 1 seed.

They've got 2 All-Stars.

They've got a contender for Coach of the Year.

They are a Physical team cut out of the same cloth as the early 1990s, uh, Detroit Pistons, late 198980s too, I guess.

Uh, but lately they have fallen on some hard times.

The Detroit Pistons have lost four games in a row as we record this on Tuesday.

They play the Nets on Tuesday night.

Uh, in that stretch, they have, they have the 20th-best offensive rating in the NBA.

They're 25th in defensive rating, which is a big hit.

They have lost to the Cavs, Spurs, Heat, and the Brooklyn Nets during that stretch.

The Nets probably want to give that win back if they could.

Um, look, It's a long season.

The Pistons have been damn good throughout it.

Do you look at this as a bump in the road, or are you seeing anything there that is a cause for concern?

I think it's a cause for concern.

Look, at the trade deadline, the Pistons, you reported it.

We're going to stand pat.

We're going to see what we can get with this young team, taking that Oklahoma City Thunder model where a lot of people were on them to add to the team that won the title last year at the trade deadline, and they're like, we don't think we need to, and we're going to see.

Let's see how we do.

I don't think that this was a let's see how we do team , and I think that they may regret down the road sort of missing the opportunity, this window that they're in right now to make their team better.

They need better three point shooting.

They need better depth, and there were a lot of people, including myself, who thought that they would go out and get some of it at the deadline, and they didn't.

And it was a philosophy decision.

It wasn't, it wasn't a mistake or a failure.

It was them making a decision.

But I look, the Cavs didn't just beat them, they beat them without Donovan Mitchell.

Like I, I just, I, I do worry in a seven-game series that they're not gonna have, can they go 3-point for 3-point with Boston?

No, right?

With Jayson Tatum back?

No, they cannot.

And, and I just, I, I, I think it is something that is indicative of a larger picture.

That doesn't mean that they won't go on a 4-game winning streak now, but I do think that the problems that they've had in these losses are not just.

Oh, bad luck, bad, bad officiating, bad, you know, flukey, whatever.

Cade's been out.

Kate hasn't been out.

There was another number, uh, and the loss to the Heat, which, by the way, the Heat have been coming on lately.

Um, gaming in Charlotte was good.

That was a fun game to watch.

Exactly.

So Kate Cunningham and Jalen Durran combined for 50 points in that game.

Nobody else did anything.

Duncan Robinson, who I thought would play well against the Heat, he would be motivated, didn't do anything in that game.

You, you can't win a title like that.

You can't win the East like that.

Yeah, they're starting to give Kevin Herder some minutes I think it's good.

Um, he's not making shots right now, but, but he's, he's a good ad for them.

He's someone they, if they can get him going.

Remember he won a basically won a playoff series for the, uh, for the Hawks back in the day, uh, and was good for one year, I think, in Sacramento.

Um, what , what stood out to me about some of these numbers.

It's not the 3-point shooting actually.

Like during these last 4 games, they've actually been top 10 in 3-point percentage.

They're still not shooting high volume, but they are shooting it rather efficiently.

The number that stood out to me though was the points in the paint.

Like they have been one of the dominant teams in the league this year.

When it comes to point in the paint, points in the paint.

They grind it out.

Uh, they've averaged, I think, 50, 55, whatever it is, number per game.

Over the last 4 games, they have been 19th in the NBA in points in the paint, averaging about 10 points less over the last 4 games.

That's a huge gap.

Like this team.

Made, built its identity around being physical in the paint.

They want to go inside to Duran, to Isaiah Stewart.

They want Cunningham to get into the paint.

They shoot threes.

They don't, they don't drive to drive and kick.

They drive to drive.

Like they want to score at the rim.

And if they're scoring at the rim at a near bottom third level, they're not gonna be as good of a team.

Simple as that.

So, can they get back to that identity?

Can they get back to playing that level of physicality and scoring in the paint?

I think that's gonna be key for this team.

I don't, look, they're never gonna be a great.

Three-point shooting team.

They're never gonna put up a ton of 3s, but they can win if they can put up 55, 60 points in the paint every single night.

They haven't done that over these last 4 games.

Can they get back to that?

I think is the key question.

I think they will get back to that.

I don't worry about so much.

I think that is more of a blip over these 4 games.

They have the personnel.

They have the will, as you said, they want their identity to be that.

I, I don't question the dedication of this team.

JB is a great coach.

Um, I think they will get back to that, but I disagree with you that that will be enough.

I think that, you know, look, they, if they played a playoff series against Boston, right, they could dominate the paint like that.

I can definitely see that happening.

Celtics trade 3 for 2 for them all day long, but that's what I'm saying.

Look, when the whole 3 is.

More than 2 movement came along, right?

Powered by Steph Curry.

I always said, yes, 3 is more than 2, but if you're a bad 3-point team, you should at least try to score inside instead of trying to bang your head against the wall because 2 is more than 0, right?

And I, I believe that.

But if you're a team, you're playing a team that's a good 3-point shooting team, 3 is still more than 2.

And, and to your, you know, I, I, I just, I think the inside game will come back.

The inside, you know, all of it, but I, I don't know if that matters if you're playing a good three-point shooting team, and it's great to be efficient, but efficiency doesn't get you on the scoreboard.

Like efficiency is OK, but you gotta be a high volume efficient team.

Yeah, uh, yeah, it, it's always been their Achilles' heel, and When they're not scoring at a high volume in the paint, it makes that lack of a three-point attack that much more glaring, and I, I don't know.

I, I don't know how they, they recover from that if they're not putting up a massive number of points in the paint.

But even if they do, you're right.

I think you're probably right.

Look, if the Celtics played them in a series right now, I'd pick the Celtics to beat them.

If the Knicks played them, I don't know, the Knicks are kind of a mixed bag.

I'm not really sure about that.

But like, I think the Pistons, even though they have been the class of the conference all season long.

Three-point shooting could come back to bite them, no doubt about that.