The Detroit Pistons have an early tip-off today against the Cavs
Before today’s afternoon tip-off in Cleveland, the Pistons were able to enjoy several days back in Motown after a lengthy road trip to close the 2025 calendar year. But on New Year’s Day, the Pistons suffered a tough 118-112 loss to the Miami Heat on their home court, starting the new year on the wrong foot.
In that tough loss, Detroit allowed Norman Powell to put up 36 points, which marked the fifth consecutive game in which the Pistons have allowed a 30+ point performance– which includes a 55-point outburst from Kawhi Leonard during that timespan.
To say that defense has been an unusual cause for concern in Motown lately would be accurate, but Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff shared some more insight behind what went into Detroit’s narrow defeat at the hands of the Heat.
“In games that you have some slippage because you don't get an opportunity to practice when you want to practice,” Bickerstaff said. “In that game, coming back off a 10 day road trip is always a tough one, but again, I thought our guys showed a ton of character and courage to be able to come back, give themselves an opportunity down the stretch but having today to practice and clean up stuff was good for us also.”
While playing Miami, the Pistons were dealt an additional blow when center Jalen Duren left the contest due to a sprained ankle and did not return. Detroit has ruled Duren out for at least a week until he is reevaluated, so the Pistons will be without their All-Star candidate big man down low for tonight’s game against the Cavs.
But with Duren out of the lineup a couple nights ago against Miami, the Pistons were able to chip away at the Heat’s lead and made the game tight down the stretch. Clearly, Detroit’s rotation looked a bit atypical without JD down low, but Bickerstaff is choosing to look at the situation through a positive lens.
“That's the one thing that's most exciting about this team is like, I still don't feel like we played our best basketball,” Bickerstaff said. “When I go back and watch the film, there's so many small things that we could just continue to improve on that give us the best chance to win and make our defense elite. So again, it's focused for us. Today was a great day to get back to it, spend some time working on those things, and then again, we know when we do it well, it travels.”
Even with the recent defensive struggles and the loss to Miami last time out, the Pistons are still in first place in the Eastern Conference with a 2.5 game lead over the New York Knicks. Coincidentally enough, the Pistons will take on the Knicks tomorrow night on the second leg of a back-to-back situation, so it will be interesting to see how Detroit manages their energy (and shortened rotation) tonight.
Yesterday, the Pistons announced that Duren would be sidelined for the near future along with Tobias Harris (hip sprain) and Caris LeVert (knee inflammation). Harris is expected to miss two weeks, while LeVert’s injury is more of the day-to-day variety. Either way, the Pistons are going to have a shortened bench for tonight’s game in Cleveland against the Cavaliers.
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