Beaten for the third time in their last four games, the Pistons are once again nosediving in the depths of the Eastern Conference, dead last with only 11 wins for 32 losses.
It is related to several factors. First, the great classic: the injured, including Cade Cunningham for the season, Marvin Bagley III at the moment in addition to rookie Jalen Duren. Another major reason for their struggling new season is their inexperience with a squad of no less than twelve players under 25.
But the calendar also plays a major role, and not just a little, with the busiest in the League in these first 43 games, with 24 games away and nine back-to-back (out of thirteen for the whole season) !
This is easily explained. As the Pistons come to play in Paris – it will be their only match in eight days – in ten days, they had to chain meetings upstream to compensate.
“Our trip was horrible,” ranted Dwane Casey before Sunday’s game against Philly. “It’s no excuse but to travel to San Antonio and then come back at night before having a game in the early afternoon at 3 p.m. The computer was not very nice to us with this calendar! »
Burnt Pistons
Latest example to date this weekend: after training canceled last Thursday to rest from the jet lag accumulated during a “road trip” which notably led them to Minneapolis and Portland, the Pistons arrived in Detroit from San Antonio in 4 a.m., Saturday. They then met for a “walkthrough” [une séance de révisions du plan de jeu et des systèmes, en « marchant »] yesterday, Sunday, before the game which was early afternoon local time.
As evidenced by their 22 stray balls in a game where they will be dropped several times over their twenties, the young Pistons seem clearly on their knees.
“I don’t know if we’re going to train because we have another game on Tuesday, then a back-to-back! »states Dwane Casey in the Detroit Free Press. “We already have injuries. We are going to work on certain situations in defense, on the video. It’s not going to be a two-hour practice because you have to manage the schedule from a physical point of view. It becomes difficult for us, we have to be smart with our energy. »
The end of the tunnel, however, is approaching for the young troop from Michigan. Except for a final (short) trip this Wednesday to Philadelphia for a rematch, and two games in two evenings on January 14 and 15, Detroit will stay at home until its “vacation week” in Paris. Phew!
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Fte | Pts |
| Bojan Bogdanovic | 41 | 31.1 | 48.6 | 41.8 | 89.2 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 21.0 |
| Cade Cunningham | 12 | 33.4 | 41.5 | 27.9 | 83.7 | 1.0 | 5.2 | 6.2 | 6.0 | 3.3 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 19.9 |
| Jaden Ivey | 38 | 29.8 | 41.2 | 32.3 | 72.1 | 1.1 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 2.7 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 3.0 | 15.1 |
| Alec Burks | 29 | 21.9 | 45.9 | 44.6 | 79.5 | 0.3 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 14.0 |
| Saddiq Bey | 38 | 28.1 | 39.8 | 33.0 | 84.0 | 0.9 | 3.2 | 4.2 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 13.7 |
| Isaiah Stewart Ii | 35 | 28.3 | 45.6 | 34.9 | 73.3 | 2.2 | 5.6 | 7.8 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 11.6 |
| Marvin Bagley Iii | 25 | 21.3 | 53.7 | 27.3 | 76.9 | 2.1 | 3.8 | 5.9 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 10.6 |
| Killian Hayes | 39 | 26.0 | 38.4 | 32.3 | 81.6 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 5.5 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 3.0 | 9.3 |
| Jalen Duren | 39 | 24.4 | 63.4 | 0.0 | 57.3 | 3.4 | 5.1 | 8.5 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 2.6 | 7.7 |
| Hamidou Diallo | 34 | 15.1 | 52.6 | 27.8 | 57.6 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 7.0 |
| Isaiah Livers | 22 | 19.6 | 40.4 | 35.8 | 75.0 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 5.8 |
| Kevin Knox | 32 | 13.9 | 44.9 | 35.6 | 81.5 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 5.6 |
| Cory Joseph | 34 | 15.4 | 39.7 | 32.2 | 75.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 4.5 |
| Rodney Mcgruder | 16 | 10.0 | 33.3 | 32.3 | 75.0 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 2.8 |
| Nerlens Noel | 8 | 8.5 | 28.6 | 0.0 | 66.7 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.5 |
| Braxton Key | 3 | 3.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.3 |
| Buddy Boeheim | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |