By Charlie Commeret
We are about halfway through the NBA season, and the Detroit Pistons sit currently at 37-12, making them first in the Eastern Conference. Building off of last season’s momentum, in which they tripled their win total compared to their lackluster 14-68 mark in the 2023-2024 season, and ended up losing to the 3 seed New York Knicks in the first round. However, this time around, the Pistons have aspirations of making an NBA finals and look to redeem themselves after their first-round exit in the 2024-2025 campaign.
Keys to success.
It all starts with the Pistons’ ferocious defense which ranks second in the NBA in defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions). As they do have their flaws, offensively especially in the halfcourt, the defense is something they can hang their hat on. Especially in a playoff setting when the game slows down. It all starts with their variety of perimeter defenders, who will rotate in and out, who are willing to get physical on the ball and play great individual one-on-one defense. This includes guys like Ron Holland and Ausar Thompson, for example, who are elite athletes and are guys capable of pressuring the ball and overall wreaking havoc on the opposing teams’ best players.
This is all much easier when you have Isaiah Stewart on the backline for when guys get beat on the perimeter. Stewart can block shots at the rim, and currently is near the top of the league in blocks with 1.8 per game. Starting Center Jalen Duren has been very solid in this area as well, showing growth defensively since his rookie season.
Offensively, Detroit thrives at getting into the paint and scoring at the rim, an effort led by the head of the snake, Cade Cunningham, who was recently announced as a starter in this year’s All-Star game, along with Duren earning his first All Star selection of his career. His ability to drive strong to the rim and finish and be a playmaker opens up so much for the Detroit offense, as there is not a pass or a read he cannot make to set up his teammates for cuts and open 3-pointers. The Pistons, however, rank near the bottom of the league in 3-point shooting, both in terms of attempts and makes. This does open opportunities for them to crash the offensive boards and create second-chance points with Duren leading the way in that department, as Detroit ranks third in the NBA in offensive rebounds with almost 14 per game, which is a large part of how they generate consistent offense.
Also offensively, the Pistons thrive off other teams’ mistakes and use their activity denying passing lanes, digging in for steals, and using their bigs to block shots at the rim to generate tons of fastbreak points. Detroit has a ton of young athletes able to thrive in the open court, as well as Cade Cunningham, which can really help them get into a rhythm especially when they struggle in the halfcourt. The Pistons score over 15% of their points off of fastbreaks and over 18% off of turnovers, which both rank top five in the league.
Outlook for the rest of the season
As Detroit has over a 5-game lead on the second-place New York Knicks in the East, they put themselves in a good position the rest of the way to lock up homecourt advantage, which is huge in the NBA playoffs. This should be no problem as long as they continue to stay steady the rest of the way through the 82-game season.
