Cade Cunningham walked off the floor visibly dejected. Surely, he was thinking what everyone else was thinking. If the Detroit Pistons couldn’t beat this version of the Utah Jazz then who could they actually beat in the next 50-plus games? This Utah Jazz team was playing its second game in two nights and sitting 38% of its total points scored on the season, including leading scorer Lauri Markkanen and its third-, fourth-, and fifth-leading scorers as well. The Pistons lost 119-111 and never led in the game after coughing up an eight-point lead midway through the first quarter.
I would say this is rock bottom, but we all know the bottom doesn’t really exist. Not as long as this team exists with these players, with this coach, and this GM. There is no reason to think that the Pistons will win another game the rest of the season. Sure, they won’t actually lose 80 games this season, but will they win 15? Ten? Seven? Who knows.
The only thing we do know is that the fans have had enough. As it became clear the Pistons were on their way to dropping their 25th straight game, the quite full crowd at Little Caesars Arena broke out in deafening chants of “sell the team.”
I don’t think Tom Gores will take that advice, exactly, though surely the venture capitalist will cash out on his investment at eight times profit eventually. But this is about as bad as the PR gets. There is no fixing this season, but something has to be done. What that something is, I have no idea.
The Pistons were led by Cade Cunningham’s 28 points and 10 assists and Jaden Ivey’s 24 points and seven assists. Marvin Bagley also had a strong game, especially early, with 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting.
The game came down to two key factors. The first, and probably most significant, was a total no-show from veteran shooter Bojan Bogdanovic. He finished the night 3-of-12 from the floor, was lost on defense and abused on the boards. Even a B- game from Bojan probably gets Detroit the victory. Instead it was an F.
The second factor was the absolute horrid play from the bench. Ausar Thompson was -18 in 19 minutes, James Wiseman was -16 in 25 minutes, and it only got slighly less ugly from there.
The Jazz were led by former Piston Kelly Olynyk (of course) who netted 27 points, including shooting 3-of-6 from deep. They also got a great game from Simone Fontecchio, the second-year player from Italy who scored 16 points thanks to four treys.
If only the Pistons had one reliable shooter they could count on.
Ah, well. Nevertheless.