Last Sunday, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers came to LCA to take on the lowly Pistons.
The Pistons Bojan Bogdanovic led all scorers from both teams with 38. However, he would not receive much help from his teammates and the Pistons fell 124-117.
This was again another game where the heralded Killian Hayes did not do a thing other than take up space on the floor. He finished with just five points. Can we all agree that it is time to move on from the Killian Experiment?
Bojan did everything in his power to drive Detroit to a victory, including scoring a career-high 25 in the third to pull the Pistons close but it was not enough as the rest of the team looked like G-League players.
Lakers – 124
Pistons – 117
Wednesday’s game marked the first game for the Pistons since news the former first-round pick, Cade Cunningham, would have season-ending shin surgery. It also marked the return of Charlottes LeMelo Ball, who had been out of action since November 16th with a sprained ankle.
The Pistons showed up tonight and ruined Ball’s return, winning 141-134. Even in a win, Detroit allows 134 points! But what do you expect from a team that is next to last in team defense and points allowed per game (117.7)?
Alec Burks led all Pistons with 26 points. Killian Hayes had his usual one good game a week and chipped in 25. Jalen Duren was a defensive wizard collecting 19 rebounds. Ball did finish with 23 in his return.
Pistons – 141
Hornets – 134
Friday saw Sacramento come to town. The result was another loss, 122-113, but the numbers show how lopsided this game was.
The Kings starting five out-scored the Pistons starting five, 99-66! Killian Hayes went back to his normal self with only 11 points.
You have to feel for Bojan Bogdanovic, 22 points, this season has to be so frustrating for him. His former team, the Jazz, are chasing a playoff spot; and his current team is the worst in the league.
Kings – 122
Pistons – 113
You have to wonder if the Pistons front office is tanking at this point. If you watch the games, it honestly looks like this team is not even trying. Of course, the prize for getting the first-round pick is Victor Wembanyama who is a 7’2” forward currently playing in the top French league. However, we all know that the worst record does not guarantee we pick first. We will end up in the bottom three which only guarantees we, and the two other lowest win percentages will have the highest possibility of getting the number one pick. Let’s not forget the last draft lottery when we were bottom three which gave us and two other teams a 17% chance of getting the number one pick, and we tumbled to number five. At 8-23, the Pistons have a lot of basketball to play and for our fans this will be hard to watch and stomach.
David Masters