3/5/26 8:00PM Pistons 45-15 @ Spurs 44-17

[Shinzaki]

I'm concerned about Duren physically.  He doesn't have the same bounce he had earlier this year and he's slower off the floor. 

And yeah...he has to play smarter defense

[papalawrence]

Detroit's lack of spacing is very exposed. They aren't going to beat SAS in the paint. 

[Deleterious]

In defense of Duren. Every day of his life he has been told to challenge the shot. It's hard to forget that two games a year.

[Deleterious]

JB with a challenge win. 

[Deleterious]

OK that was just a dumb foul by Duren

[Deleterious]

The Pistons are taking turns fouling Victor 25 feet from the basket

[Hongbit]

Trae Young and Jalen Brunson would be proud of the effort from Wemby tonight. 

[Deleterious]

Last week the story was San Antonio won because that were lights out from three. They are only shooting 36% from three tonight.

[Deleterious]

Dumb foul by Cade 

[Deleterious]

So the refs screw a call up and Detroit had to burn it's last challenge to fix it. Terrible rule

[Deleterious]

Lead is down to 8 starting the 4th

[Deleterious]

Not a long rest for Cade

[Deleterious]

Victor just kills Cades midrange game 

[Tigeraholic1]

Why does Careless Levert get so much playing time?

[Deleterious]

They said Holland is out with an eye injury

[Deleterious]

Just now, Tigeraholic1 said:

Why does Careless Levert get so much playing time?

Cavs fans asked the same thing when they were both in Cleveland.

[Deleterious]

Well, I'm glad Wemby is in the West.

[Deleterious]

Duren never came back after his fifth foul

[papalawrence]

Gritty play, not always wise (taking it to Wemby over and over), imho the more balanced and talented team won. 

[Deleterious]

So much of what Detroit does starts with their defense.  Losing Thompson really hurt that and is a big story going forward if he has to miss significant time.  Not so much for the regular season, but it's a deal if he starts to miss playoff games.

Cade has to be better.  26 points on 26 shots is pretty bad.  Funny thing is, he shot well from three but everywhere else wasn't good.  His defense wasn't very good either and he took a few dumb fouls.

Insert the Cade needs help plea here.

LeVert and Jenkins were terrible.  20 and 14 minutes combined, and they produced 0 points.  

The defense on Wemby was bad.  They fouled him 20 feet from the basket a good 7 or 8 times.  He isn't Steph, he doesn't shoot that well where you have to pressure him defensively 20+ feet from the basket.  You could probably make an argument you want him shooting that shot.  Save your fouls for the times he is in the paint.  

[Sports_Freak]

5 hours ago, Deleterious said:

Well, I'm glad Wemby is in the West.

Yeah, SA did a very good tank job in order to get him.

[buddha]

7 hours ago, Deleterious said:

So much of what Detroit does starts with their defense.  Losing Thompson really hurt that and is a big story going forward if he has to miss significant time.  Not so much for the regular season, but it's a deal if he starts to miss playoff games.

Cade has to be better.  26 points on 26 shots is pretty bad.  Funny thing is, he shot well from three but everywhere else wasn't good.  His defense wasn't very good either and he took a few dumb fouls.

Insert the Cade needs help plea here.

LeVert and Jenkins were terrible.  20 and 14 minutes combined, and they produced 0 points.  

The defense on Wemby was bad.  They fouled him 20 feet from the basket a good 7 or 8 times.  He isn't Steph, he doesn't shoot that well where you have to pressure him defensively 20+ feet from the basket.  You could probably make an argument you want him shooting that shot.  Save your fouls for the times he is in the paint.  

come on, we moved up a couple spots in the draft, what other help do you need????

[buddha]

on the one hand, you arent going to run up against a freak like wemby until the finals.  so no real reason to be concerned.

losing ausar for any length of time is a huge concern.  fortunately the schedule lightens up a bit soon.

but overall, the team is as flawed as its always been.  if robinson isnt shooting well, theyre going to be relying on tobias to open up some space.  in fairness to him, he played well in the knicks series last year.  can he do that again when the other team is focusing 100% of their defense on cade?  we'll see.

i'm starting to get worried about a potential first round matchup with charlotte...

[Betrayer]

11 hours ago, Deleterious said:

So much of what Detroit does starts with their defense.  Losing Thompson really hurt that and is a big story going forward if he has to miss significant time.  Not so much for the regular season, but it's a deal if he starts to miss playoff games.

Cade has to be better.  26 points on 26 shots is pretty bad.  Funny thing is, he shot well from three but everywhere else wasn't good.  His defense wasn't very good either and he took a few dumb fouls.

Insert the Cade needs help plea here.

LeVert and Jenkins were terrible.  20 and 14 minutes combined, and they produced 0 points.  

The defense on Wemby was bad.  They fouled him 20 feet from the basket a good 7 or 8 times.  He isn't Steph, he doesn't shoot that well where you have to pressure him defensively 20+ feet from the basket.  You could probably make an argument you want him shooting that shot.  Save your fouls for the times he is in the paint.  

This pretty much sums it up. I'll just add a few of my observations as well.

The only way you're beating the Spurs is if you can shoot from outside. Cade was shooting well from three in this one and probably needed to take about 5 more threes rather than forcing bad shots into Wemby because they were daring him to shoot.

Teams like the Spurs that can protect the paint and don't turn it over are a real problem for this version of the Pistons. We can't score from the perimeter and if we aren't getting out in transition, we're in trouble. That's why Ausar is the 2nd most important player on this team, not the All-Star JD.

I'll also add that Huerter had some nice minutes in this one. He certainly looked more playable than LaVert. Jenkins has been struggling since he signed that contract as well. Now watch JB start LaVert or Jenkins in place of Ausar in the next game rather than going to Holland, Huerter, or Green.

It's time to find a way to get Reed 10 minutes per game. I actually liked the minutes with him and Stew in there and he always makes a positive impact on the game in some way.