I had something really nice written about how good the Detroit Pistons bench played and how Cade Cunningham’s second-straight triple-double was vital in a win over the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday.
It was really good. Maybe I’ll leave it in below.
Instead, the Pistons were, well, the same old Pistons.
They held multiple late leads, they played their asses off, and they lost in the most mind-numbingly stupid way. It’s funny, seeing Brandon Miller put back a miss at the buzzer to give Charlotte a 108-107 win shouldn’t make me mad anymore.
I mean, I’ve seen Detroit lose this EXACT SAME WAY like five times in the last calendar year.
Somehow, I’m still pissed.
Malik Beasley gave the most half-assed off box out attempts as Miller zoomed by for the score. The Pistons got multiple stops on that final possession after Ron Holland’s steal and score on Miller gave them a one-point lead with just over six seconds to go.
Should Isaiah Stewart have been on the floor at the end for rebounding purposes? Probably. But the Pistons got two stops on the possession, someone should have just grabbed a rebound.
Alas, they did not do the things needed to win.
As fun as this little stretch of success has been, it’s a sobering reminder that it’s hard to win in the NBA. Scratch that, it’s hard learning to win. This team is a D+ student when it comes to that, but it’s better than the F they had last year.
I thought they all played pretty decently tonight, though.
Cade was great, notching another triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He was super aggressive early, firing up 18 shots in the first half, but really settled into a distributor role in the second half.
Jaden Ivey left briefly after banging knees with Josh green, but had another strong game with 21 points, four rebounds and five assists. Even Tobias Harris had a nice night with 14 points and seven rebounds, bouncing back nicely from a slow start that made him Public Enemy #1 for Pistons fans.
Detroit played without Jalen Duren, who left the game early with an ankle.
The old “next man up” mantra really rang true tonight.
Stewart, whose effort will never be questioned, stepped into the starter minutes amicably. But when it came to the other minutes, it was all good — for once. Paul Reed stepped in and balled out.
It was fitting for the guy nicknamed B-Ball Paul as the third-string center finished with 13 points and two rebounds.
Stewart had a huge block on LaMelo Ball (25 points) with just over a minute to go that led to a transition opportunity. Cade found Ivey who drew a foul and nailed two free throws to extend the lead to 103-101.
Ball went nuclear after that, hitting a layup and a pair of triples to give Charlotte a three-point lead. A quick dunk from Ivey and Holland’s steal and score gave Detroit the lead and felt like the dagger.
But of course, the Pistons — dagger in hand — accidentally stuck themselves in the end. It’s a long season and odds are this loss means nothing in the scheme of things… but dammit, this team has a chance to show it’s more than we’ve grown to know of them.
Tonight, however, they were the just same old Pistons.