Pistons Have Now Lost Eight Straight
After falling to the Washington Wizards last night, the Pistons are now a league-worst 12-45 and have dropped eight games in a row. Rookie standout Cade Cunningham was on the sidelines with a hip pointer for several of those losses, but he's been back for three games now and the Pistons still can't figure it out.
Last night, Cunningham was part of the problem. The skilled rookie played 28 minutes but only scored 12 points and went 0-for-5 from three-point range. He also added four rebounds and four assists. Saddiq Bey did his best to keep the Pistons in it scoring 24, including four from deep. He also had five boards and five dimes. Most of the other Pistons had mediocre outputs against a beatable Wizards team.
On a good note, Marvin Bagley III made his Pistons debut last night and showed some good things. He played just 20 minutes but put up 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds. He also showed some of the natural skills that made him the No. 2 overall pick just four years ago. At 6-11, he has an extremely quick first step, excellent feet and plenty of bounce to make plays above the rim. The long lefty has a good touch around the rim and also has the ability to step out and knock down jumpers, even though he didn't really put that on display last night.
This Pistons team just isn't firing on all cylinders right now. They aren't talented enough to have off nights. If one ore more of the starters aren't contributing in a big way, they simply don't have enough ammunition off the bench to hang with even the mediocre teams in the league.
The Pistons will take on the Celtics in Boston tomorrow, which will very likely be another loss as the C's have started heating up. After that, the Pistons will have a week off as we hit the NBA All-Star break before picking things back up on Feb. 24 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Detroit. Head coach Dwane Casey needs to do everything in his power to get his team right to try and get a win coming out of the break.
