The Detroit Pistons had a rollercoaster Thursday by any standards
Before the Detroit Pistons faced the Washington Wizards in their road matchup on Thursday night, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff offered a bit more detail about the injury situation regarding his star player, Cade Cunningham.
Earlier in the day, the Pistons announced that Cunningham has a collapsed lung, and they applied a two-week timetable before the All-Star’s injury would be reevaluated. So, Bickerstaff spoke about the unfortunate news ahead of their Eastern Conference tilt.
“Obviously, it’s tough, tough for Cade to go through what he’s going through now,” Bickerstaff said. “You know how important he is to the team, how important being with his team is to him doesn’t make it easy. He’s a huge part of what we do from a leadership standpoint. Obviously, the talent is there. But just being around him every single day makes people’s days better, and we’ll miss that on this trip and things like that, but it’s our responsibility to keep pushing forward. We know he’s there rooting for us, pulling for us, obviously when he’s around he’ll be cheering for us, helping, coaching, leading– all those things. So, it’s everybody’s responsibility to keep moving forward head down, ten toes forward and go to work, and that’s what this team has done all year.”
In terms of how Cunningham’s absence impacts the Pistons, there is no direct one-to-one replacement for Cade on Detroit’s roster. In fact, there likely is not a direct one-to-one replacement for Cade in the NBA, so the squad is going to need a concerted effort from everybody to help keep the team’s head above water over the next couple weeks.
“It’s everybody ticking up a little bit more,” Bickerstaff said. “Like you said, you’re not going to be able to replace what he does individually, but collectively if everybody just plays to the best of their abilities and plays to their strength and ticks it up a little bit more, collectively we can get the job done, and we’ve proven it all year.”
Against the Wizards, the Pistons were able to secure their second consecutive victory, both of which came against Washington. Jalen Duren had another strong showing with 24 points, 11 rebounds and two steals, but the Pistons offensive structure looked much different without Cunningham on the floor.
During the first quarter, Detroit looked to attack the paint with early post touches when Duren was in the game. The Pistons ran a lot of their offense through Duren or Tobias Harris early on, then the team altered their offense to include more mid-range looks when JD took a breather on the bench.
In terms of scoring support, the Pistons had six players in double figures on the night, and Paul Reed was responsible for another productive night at the office with 17 points, four rebounds, three assists and two blocks. In both games against the Wizards this week, the Pistons were able to take advantage of a big mismatch in the post, and that inside leverage helped propel Detroit to a pair of victories in the nation’s capital.
Next up, the Pistons are set to take on the Golden State Warriors tomorrow night at home on the second leg of a back-to-back assignment.
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