After yesterday’s day off, the Detroit Pistons are still in the nation’s capital for another matchup tonight against the Washington Wizards in a rare scheduling oddity of back-to-back contests featuring the same squads. Nonetheless, the Pistons are one win shy of the 50-victory threshold, though they’ll have to fight through a couple key absences if they want to climb that hill tonight. 

In their last game on Tuesday, the Pistons lost Cade Cunningham in the first quarter a couple minutes after the All-Star point guard took a spill that bothered his back. Cunningham headed to the locker room after just five minutes, and the team confirmed he was out for the rest of the game due to back spasms. 

Without Cunningham for the remainder of the night, the Pistons rode a dominant 37-point third quarter and turned it into a 13-point road win over the Wizards. Detroit center Jalen Duren set a new career-high with 36 points on a tidy 13-for-17 shooting performance with 12 rebounds to cap off the double-double. Duren’s scoring effort when combined with the Pistons’ bench production was more than enough to seal the win for the Pistons during their last on-court appearance. 

As for Washington, the Wizards have struggled to find any consistency with so many moving pieces and players floating in and out of the lineup. The Wizards are still riding a 13-game losing streak after facing the Pistons on Tuesday, and Trae Young hasn’t come back from his quad injury during the Warriors game on Monday. 

Without Young available, the Wizards pivoted to a steady dose of Bub Carrington, especially during the fourth quarter when the second-year guard popped off to complete his 30-point performance. Will Riley also scored 21 points in another steady, productive contribution for the Illinois product after the All-Star Break. 

As a team, the Wizards still favor the pull-up jumper and the mid-range look more than almost any other team in the NBA, so the Pistons will work to stifle a Washington offense that prioritizes what they view as a reliable scoring opportunity. 

From Detroit’s side of the matchup, the Pistons have already ruled Cunningham out for tonight’s contest with a contusion on his back. Cunningham took a hard fall while diving for the Wizards in their last game, so the Pistons are going to operate on the side of caution with the playoffs just around the corner. Isaiah Stewart also joins Cunningham on the injury report, and Beef Stew will be unavailable as the defensive force continues to rehab his strained left calf. 

As for the Wizards, Young is still listed as out for tonight as a result of that lingering quad injury. The same contingent of Anthony Davis, Kyshawn George, D’Angelo Russell and Leaky Black are still out tonight with more long-term injuries, while Bilal Coulibaly and Alex Sarr carry day-to-day designations and could feature in the 7 pm tilt.

Since Cunningham won’t factor into the game, the Pistons will likely deploy Daniss Jenkins a bit more liberally throughout their matchup with the Wizards. Though Marcus Sasser has stepped into the starting role recently when it’s been available, Jenkins outperformed Sasser against Washington on Tuesday with 15 points and seven assists in the 130-117 win. 

If the Pistons stick with Jenkins or even lean on him heavily, look for Detroit to operate out of a high pick and roll set when in the half-court considering 29.6% of Jenkins’ actions come from that situation. But when Detroit has the opportunity, Jenkins has been entrusted to push the accelerator in transition for the Pistons, and he’s done just that with a 21.8% involvement in fast-break looks. 

Take a look at how Jenkins breaks down from a play-type perspective with this graphic courtesy of Dynatyze: 

The Pistons will most likely deploy both Sasser and Jenkins regularly throughout the game, both together and working independently, so the second and third-year guards should get a relatively large runway to lead the Pistons to what could be their second consecutive victory. But when Jenkins does have an opportunity to play without losing minutes to Cunningham, the former G-League star has made the most of his chances. 

Though Carrington didn’t really get going until late in the Wizards’ game against Detroit, the dynamic guard ended the game with 30 points and acquitted himself nicely as a dangerous shooter with a knack for finishing. Carrington could receive another substantial shot diet without Young, Davis or George or Russell in the lineup, so look for Washington to try involving Carrington earlier in tonight’s game. 

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