SURGE: Detroit Pistons, minus Cade Cunningham, STIFLE Tyrese Maxey, Javonte Green SPARKS DEFENSE Run

SURGE: Detroit Pistons, minus Cade Cunningham, STIFLE Tyrese Maxey, Javonte Green SPARKS DEFENSE Run

The Detroit Pistons defeated the Philadelphia 76ers and have now won nine straight games. They now sit at 11-2 at the top of the Eastern Conference. How are they doing this? We’ll talk about it coming up today’s episode of Locked on Pistons podcast. You are Locked on Pistons, your daily Detroit Pistons podcast, part of the Locked Onet. Your team every day. What’s the deal? Welcome back to another episode of the Lockdown Pistons podcast. Per usual, I am your host Kahill. You can find me over on Twitter, Cook Hill. I’ve been covering the Detroit Piston for the last four years of the Lockdown Network Credential Media member over the last three years. I appreciate all of you guys who make Lockdown Pistons your first listen every single day. We are free and available on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at Lockdown Pistons. Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review, whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on. And thanks to all of your guys’ support. Locked on Pistons, which is part of the Lockdown Podcast. Network is now the number one sports podcast network in America. Appreciate all of your guys’ support um as usual. But later on, we will discuss how is Detroit playing this well down so many guys and then also we’ll discuss whether this is sustainable for the Detroit Pistons for a longer run. But first, I want to kind of just recap this game over the weekend. of the Pistons played the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night and were able to get this win 114 to 105. Oh, and actually real quick, I almost forgot. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, Korean account, use code locked in NBA for $20 off your first purchase. But yes, the Pistons won this game 114 to 105. They now move to 11-2. They are at the top of the Eastern Conference. The only team that can rival them in record across the entire NBA is the Oklahoma City Thunder who might be on pace to set the single season record for wins in a season. I think they might do it. They they are ridiculous. But this isn’t locked on Thunder. If you guys want to check out Ryland over at Locked on Thunder here, how they’re doing it, go ahead and you can find that wherever you find this podcast. But that just tells you how great the Pistons have started this year. This has been an absolutely fantastic start to this season for the Detroit Pistons. And in this game, in this game against the Philadelphia 76ers, sorry about hitting my mic right there. They were without K. Cunningham, their best player again. They were without Tobias Harris again. They were without Assar Thompson again. They were without Jaylen Duran again. And they were still without Jane Ivy, obviously, and Marcus Sasser. Isaiah Stewart thankfully returned in this game, but it was his first game back. And despite all of that, the Pistons win their ninth straight game, but their second straight game without most of their rotation. They beat the Bulls without seven players. This game they win without six players and they just continue to suffocate teams on the defensive end of the floor. Tyrese Maxi in this game who has been one of the best scorers in the NBA all season this year. Tyresese Maxi 31 points on 31 shots. The Pistons held him to 41% from the field and 18% from beyond the arc. He only got to the free throw line three times. only three times. They did a great just a fantastic job of defending without fouling and putting players on the free throw line. Now, I think it’s fair to mention if there happens to be any Philadelphia 76ers fans that watch this or hear this and like, “Oh, we were without Joel Embiid.” Yes, that’s fair. They were without Joel Embiid. Nonetheless, the Pistons were without seven six players of their own. So, don’t think that’s anywhere close to an excuse. And again, the Pistons were led by players you wouldn’t necessarily think they’d be led by. Javvante Green again has a very good game. 21 points on 12 shots. Got to the free throw line nine times, nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks of steel. Javvante Green could not have proved me wrong any more than he has so far to start this year. In preeason, I said didn’t think he’d be a part of the rotation. when he played in the first two games, I’m like, well, Javvante Green minutes feel like they’re just a waste of minutes that could be going to another young guy that needs the minutes or, you know, whatever. And I said, as soon as everyone gets back healthy, Javvante Green won’t be playing. And all year, even though the three-point shot dipped for a minute, he started off really hot, but it started to dip. He started to get down to 31% from deep. He made three threes in this game. Despite all of that, he continues to prove why he’s getting minutes. And he’s making the rotation conversation for when everybody is healthy rather difficult because I don’t know how I mean I know how you just sit him on the bench, but like he’s making it hard for you for JB Bigger Staff I should say to sit him when everybody is healthy. He’s playing exceptional. The effort that he is giving on the defensive end is just is contagious. It’s it’s the rest of his teammates are feeding off of his energy, not just on the defensive end of the floor, but how much he is hustling on the glass. He had nine rebounds in this game. And Javvante Green is not this big tall guy. He’s not this 69 player. He’s not 6’7 with crazy hops. He’s just 6’4, 6’5ish with just pure hustle and motivation and he’s making it happen. There’s so many plays with the Pistons down, so many guys. They need everybody to be active on the glass and Javvante Green is taking it upon himself to make it happen. I I can’t say anymore about how impressive he has been for the Pistons this season with what he’s done, especially this past game. This past game, he was tremendous, but the hustle and defense that he’s bringing has been incredible. Again, another solid game from Paul Reed as well. Duncan Robinson continues to shoot incredibly well from beyond the arc. He hits three of six threes in this game with 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals. Just I want you guys to listen to these rebound numbers from the entire Piston squad. Again, they’re down all these guys I mentioned at the beginning of this. They’re without Duran, Assar, Kate. A lot of those guys are their main rebounders. So, they need everybody on the glass. This is what it looked like. Ron had five rebounds. Javvante had nine rebounds. Paul Reed with eight. Duncan Robinson with six. Dennis Jenkins even got on there with for three. Chaz Lane Lenir for four. Isaiah Stewart with seven. Caris Levert with two. And Wendell Moore with two. You had everybody pitching in, hustling on the glass to try and make up for the absence of Jaylen Duran, of Assar Thompson, of Tobias Harris. All these guys and all of them are just fighting to get on the glass. And then obviously you have the incredible play from Dannis Jenkins who had 19 points and eight assists, made five threes in this game. and he went toe-to-toe with Tyrese Maxi. He was talking heavy trash to Tyrese Maxi throughout this game. And midway through the game, I was like, you know, I have a cardinal rule. Don’t give other professional athletes extra motivation to go out there and dominate you. And I’m like, okay, I don’t know if talking trash to Tyrese Maxi is is the greatest idea, but let’s see how it plays out. Turns out it was the it was an incredible idea. You saw after halftime, Tyres Maxi was really forcing it, especially in the fourth quarter, it felt like he was trying to make it a one-on-one game versus Dannis Jenkins. And that leaned in the Pistons favor. Danis has shown some incredible defense at the point of attack. He’s really strong. You can see his length bother people again. And he’s he doesn’t get bumped off his spot because he looks really strong at the point of attack. He does a great job hustling, staying in front of players, and he really gave Tyrese Maxi a lot of fits in this game. So, while Tyrese Maxi was trying to make this a one-on-one game and ended up getting up 31 shots um and only scoring 31 points on those shots, the Pistons continue to work the ball around. The Pistons continued to run off of his misses. They continue to find good shots and and end up extending the lead in the fourth quarter. They ended up going up by 11 points with a minute and 44 left in this game. And this is just another team win. I’ve said this over and over the last two games, I said this at the last episode, but these two games, if there if if there was ever an example of JB Bigger Staff setting a culture, laying a foundation down, being a reason why the Pistons win games, it’s these last two games. The fact the Pistons have been able to win these games with as many injuries as they’ve had is a testament to JB Bigger Staff and what he’s getting these guys to buy into. everyone, everyone on the roster from player number one to player 15. He’s getting every single player to buy into what the identity of this team is and that is defense. So, incredible win by the Detroit Pistons. Nine straight wins, 11-2. This is the best start the Pistons have had in 15 plus years. This has been incredible. We’ll see if they can continue it. And that’s what we’re going to talk about coming up is how is Detroit doing this? How are they going on this run? what is contributing to them really shocking the league and starting out 11 and two. We’ll talk about it coming up. Today’s episode is brought to you by Robin Hood. Your ambition just met its match with Robin Hood. You play for the win, not just on game day, but every day. Locking on every opening, beating your PR, beating it again, and channel that drive into your money. Robin Hood puts you in control of your money. Trade stocks, options, futures, and crypto all on one platform. You can now build and execute your own trades for a desktop with Robin Hood Legends advanced tools. Or take advantage of the new Robin Hood strategies with a tailored portfolio managed by a team of experts. You expect more from yourself, so expect more from your money. Get started today at robinhood.com/you. Again, that’s robinhood.com/youoney, your money, your move with Robin Hood. Now, I got to tell you guys about another one of our sponsors, Game Time. 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So, first I want to start with how they’re winning these two games, these last two games that they’ve won without majority of their guys. And then I want to talk about how they’re winning and contributing to this entire run of nine straight wins. So, let’s start with why I believe they’ve been able to pull off these upsets over the last two games. And the reason why I say upsets, it’s not because the team isn’t capable of being the Sixers, not because I think they’re not as good of a team as Chicago. simply because they’re without all of their guys entering into those games. I don’t know if many people outside Detroit thought the Pistons could win either of those games, but they’ve been able to do it. So, why do I think they’ve been able to do so? The number one absolute main reason is their defense. So far this year, they are the third best defensive team in the entire NBA with a 109.5 defensive rating. They are getting everybody on the roster top down to defend. And I mean everybody. They’re getting defense from even Duncan Robinson. Duncan Robinson. And when I say defense, I don’t mean he’s out there looking like a great defender. I mean they have him hustling. They have him making rotations. They have him blocking shots. They have him getting steals in the passing lane. Is he still targeted? Yes. Is he still giving up some buckets? Yes. But are you getting the max effort of even bad defenders to where they’re making plays whenever they can? Yes. This game against the Sixers, Duncan Robinson had two steals and a block. He had three sacks in this game. You’re getting great, not great defense, but you’re getting hustle and commitment defensively from Duncan Robinson. You’re getting defense from vets like Caris Levert off the bench who is really done a great job on the defensive end at the point of attack, really using his length to bother other guards. And that’s something we heard about all off season for why they signed Caris Levert and kind of let Dennis Shruder go, who just got benched, by the way, for Russell Westbrook, which is pretty crazy. Um, but Caris, even when he struggled offensively, defensively, he’s his length is popping off almost every single possession when he’s at the point of attack. It’s hard to get shots over him. He’s swiping down and getting knockaways. He’s getting deflections in the passing lanes. He’s doing a great job on the defensive end. So, the Pistons are getting defense. And obviously from Paul Reed, the random blitzes. We know how he is. In this game against the Sixers, he had three blocks and two steals. They’re getting just playmaking type of plays on the defensive end. It’s not just like they’re playing good defense. They’re getting playmaking type of plays. In this game against the Sixers, for example, they had seven blocks and nine steals. They’re not just getting stops, getting the rebound, and then pushing. They’re getting game-changing, playmaking, easy bucket type of defensive plays, whether it’s a steal or a block leading to transition opportunity. It’s really deflating how the Pistons play defense against other teams. They they are they are physically imposing to opposing teams and the plays that they make are like just just chemistry. What is it that you know? Oh my god. Uh momentum. That’s what it is in the video game when you you have that momentum bar. The Pistons just completely wipe the other team’s momentum with some of the plays they make defensively because it’s just so like some of the plays that they make are just so like I’m trying to I I I keep saying physically imposing but that’s really what it is. So I think that’s what I think that’s obviously reason number one. Reason number two for why they are able to win these last two games. I mentioned his name already. Caris Levert is playing fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. Last two games, 15 and a half points. He’s averaging two stocks a game. He’s averaging five and a half assists a game. And he has a 74 true shooting percentage over these two games. He is playing absolutely tremendous. Not just on the defensive end like we just talked about, but he is playing much better offensively. Much better offensively. He’s getting to his spots. He’s getting to the rim. He He’s playing really well off ball as well. He’s creating threes for himself, which I’ve really enjoyed, especially against the Sixers. He had a few pull-up threes that were big time for the Detroit Pistons, and he’s keeping the ball moving. There was a few passes he’s made as well that really jumped off the screen. He had one pass driving down the right lane against the Sixers when he wrapped it around two defenders. I forget who it was cutting down the middle, but it led to some free throws. That was just an incredible pass. He’s done a really good job of orchestrating the offense and getting good shots for the Pistons. Caris Leverk having a guy when your main creators are are are all hurt, you have a guy that comes off the bench and is able to play as well as he’s had as he has, excuse me, creating offense for your team efficiently. It’s such a big deal. It’s such a big deal, especially because the Pistons, like I said, are lacking in self-creation with as many guys as they have out. So, Caris Levert, I think, is one of the main reasons why they’ve been able to win the last few games. Now, I want to talk about for the length, how are they able to how have they been able to win nine straight games? The same answer for number one is the defense, but we talked about the defense. I don’t need to go any further into that. We all know how tremendous they are defensively, how how just crazy they are defensively. What are the other reasons why they’re able to pull this off? All of their veterans are starting to show up. Their veterans are all starting to show up over the last five games for Caris Levert. 13 points a game on 72 shoot on 72% true shooting. He’s averaging 3.8 assists with that. He’s playing extremely well. They’re winning his minutes by 4.2 points. They are better with him on the floor over the last over the last five games. They’re winning his minutes, excuse me, actually. I looked at the wrong number. They’re winning his minutes by 10.4 four points per 100 possession. They have an offensive rating of 116 with him on the floor. Defensive rating of 105 with him on the floor. It’s not just Caris either. Duncan Robinson as well. We’ve talked about him. He deserves to continue to get his credit. Over the last eight games for Duncan Robinson, 14 points a game on 65% true shooting. He is hitting 46% of his threes. He’s taken seven and a half threes per game over this last eight games. The team has an offensive rating of 123.4 when he is on the floor and 113.9 defensive rating when he is on the floor. They are winning his minutes by 9.5 points per 100 possessions. The Pistons spent a lot of money, all of their money really in the offseason that they had on Duncan Robinson and on Caris Levert. And both of those guys are coming through. Both of them throughout the duration of this entire win streak. these guys are coming through. So, you’re getting like this great play, the these these highlight moments from obviously K Cunningham. You’re getting these highlight moments from Duncan Robinson or not Duncan Robinson, I’m sorry, Jaylen Duran. You’re getting some of this great play from Assar Thompson. Your young guys, they they are leading the charge. But coming into the year, the question that a lot of fans had was, are they going to miss Malik Beasley? Are they going to miss Dan Shruder? the beginning, the very very very start, the first two games, we had people concerned like, “Oh, you’re already seeing that they miss me Malik. Oh, you’re already seeing that they miss Shruder.” And during this winning streak, both Duncan and Caris Levert have played exceptional and have done exactly what you want for them when you signed them in the offseason. And I’d be I I I would not be fair if I did not talk about this guy for why they’ve been able to extend the winning streak. And that’s Dennis Jenkins, man. Who would have thought he is having now? Look, I said on Twitter um that he’s having a Linsanity run and some people were like, “Well, I hope not. Lince kind of ran out.” First of all, Jeremy Lynn had a really long career and a good career. So, like Dannis Shakens going from an undrafted two-way guy to have a Jeremy Lynn type career, that would be absolutely 100% amazing for him. So, I don’t know why that seemed like disrespect to some people, but specifically over the last three games, he is averaging 20.3 points a game, 7.7 assists a game on 58 true shooting. They are getting good play from a two-way guy. They are getting fantastic play from a two-way guy. And he’s not just scoring. I talked about earlier, he’s playing good defense. So, you’re getting this, you’re getting good production from Assar, from Jaylen Duran, from K Cunningham. Your veterans are showing up and playing how you wanted them to play when you signed them in the offseason. And you’re getting these random spurts of big contributions from your role players. You get a random game from Javvante Green, who will randomly have a great game like he did against the Sixers. You’ll have a random great game from Paul Reed like he had against the Chicago Bulls when he looks like Nicole Joic and and just dominates the game. Couldn’t believe it. And then you get a random output from Dannis Jenkins, a two-way guy. So there’s so at multiple different levels, the Pistons are finding ways to get a win. Whether it’s their best players, whether it’s their veterans, whether it’s their random end of bench guys coming in taking advantage of the moment. there. All everyone is contributing from top to bottom to them being able to pull it pull this off and extend this win streak. Everyone deserves credit for how well the Pistons have played over the last nine games. It’s been tremendous to watch. Absolutely tremendous to watch. And obviously to get you we’ll go into the the details more with how well the Pistons are playing a little bit into the future. I want to give some more of a sample size before I start looking at some of this data, but obviously they’re they’re dominating the rebounding battles. They’re dominating in the paint. They’re trading a lot of they’re not the highest volume three-point shooting team, but they’re dominating teams in the paint. They’re the best team in the NBA, points in the paint. I really want to have an episode in the future going over this trade-off the Pistons are making and why they’re able to make this happen despite not being a great three-point shooting team. Why they’re succeeding. uh zigging while everyone else is zagging. So, we’ll talk about that moving forward, but the most simplistic way to talk about this and reveal why the Pistons are having this success, their star players are showing up. The veterans now are turning it around after they’re a slower start to the season and they’re also getting random burst from random role players to go along with everything else that is happening. This has been a great run from the Detroit Pistons and JB Bigger deserves credit. the rest of the team deserves credit and we’ll see if they can keep it going. And that’s what we’re going to answer coming up is can they sustain this? Is this run sustainable by the Detroit Pistons? We’ll talk about it coming up. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Again, new customers with FanDuel can get $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. So, I want to thank you guys again making locked on Pistons your first listen of every single day. We are free to web on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at Lockdown Pistons. Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on. That’s another great way to support the podcast. Is this run sustainable by the Detroit Pistons? I have two answers. Is what they’ve done over the last two games sustainable? It’s been great to see. No. I I I It’s been great to see. We’ll see how long they if these guys continue to miss games, how much longer they can keep doing it. But obviously, I think everyone would agree. Obviously, the longer this goes on with the Pistons having to play without their guys, the harder this will be to sustain, the harder it’s going to be to continue get these random outputs from role players. And it’s going to become unfair really to expect that from some of these guys to continue to play at the level they’ve played in the absence of your star players. What you want from these role players, from your bench players, is that when they are called upon in short stints or at random moments to be ready and to have these kind of games that they’ve had over the last few games, what you are not wanting from them and what you really are not asking from them is to show up and meet the level of output that your stars are giving you for a week plus worth of games. So, while what they’ve done the last two games has been amazing, if the Pistons want to continue to have this kind of crazy start to the year and continue to be at the top of the Eastern Conference and continue to prove themselves as a contender in the Eastern Conference, they obviously need their guys to come back. Now, eventually those guys will come back, but we have no timetable on that. So, that’s really what my biggest concern is is that since we have no timetable on this, are they dayto day? Are they a week? Are they out week plus? Are they with a month? I think that is such a big deal for the Pistons, not just in the immediate future. Can they win this upcoming game they have? Sure. But will they be able to sustain being one of the top teams in the East if they’re having to play without their guys for multiple weeks? No, I don’t think they can. So, they need their guys to get back as soon as possible so they can take advantage of the great work that the role players have done in in chipping in and coming through in the short term and giving them enough time to come back and then taking the the baton and continuing to lead it from there. So, they need their guys back. I don’t think what you’re getting the last two games from a Javvante Green, even from a Danis Jenkins, even though I do think Danis is going to be fine and play well enough to be your backup point guard, which is a problem or not a problem, but a question that you’re going to have to answer when everybody gets back healthy. But expecting these guys to have these ridiculous games, I don’t think it’s fair to them. It’s not fair to put those expectations. They need their stars to come back. So immediate future, no it’s not sustainable. Long-term, like the overall what they’re building for the entirety of their season when everyone’s healthy, 100% this team is sustainable. I’ve seen enough already to know that it’s sustainable. First of all, their defense travels. They’ve been a great defense since last year. They are a great defense again this year, and they have better defenders than they had last year. Last year, I felt like they had a good defense with some really what what JB was able to do with last year’s defensive personnel. I thought was really incredible. And you guys know that I put a lot of that on Assaar after he came back because they were so bad in defense in December and then became one of the best defensive teams in the league once Assar came back. So I put that a lot on. Oh, Assar came in completely warped their defense last year. Now coming into this year, they replace some of those bad defenders with a Caris Levert. Another year of improvement from Jaylen Duran. And now you’re seeing this defense be look even better than it did last year. They have so many more guys that you can trust to guard on ball. Whether it’s Assara obviously or a Ron Holland who has been tremendous on defense who or like I mentioned Levert or even a Dennis Jenkins who’s playing really hard at the on the at the point of attack. They have more guys that can play defense. So, the fact that that’s their identity and the fact that they have so many guys that that play physical, that is going to sustain. So, that’s reason number one. I know we’ve talked about their defense multiple times, but that’s why it will sustain because that travels. It’s it it’s not going to go away. That’s not a fluke. We know that the Pistons are going to be one of the best defensive teams in the league. That is great. The other reason why I believe that this is going to be sustainable for the Detroit Pistons is because it’s not coming from fluky like this run is not coming from like fluky three-point variation. Like you’ll see teams and people talk about this a lot where it it you’ll hear about this when like a a player for a team. Let’s just use you know um I mean heck even Kade I saw people talking about this with Kate. So I guess whatever we’ll throw this out there. Let’s say when if Kade misses a game you have you don’t have your best player. You hear people talk about well let’s just shoot a bunch of threes and hope the three-point variance leans our way. basically saying, “Okay, if you’re not going to have a lot of self-creation, you think your offense is going to be great that night. Let’s just get a bunch of threes up, maybe you have a hot night from three, you can surprise a team.” It’s not one of those fluky kind of runs. It’s not, “Oh, the Pistons are burning hot from deep, and that’s how they’re leading their to their wins.” They’re getting to their wins by playing their brand of basketball. It’s not anything It’s not anything out of the ordinary. Over the last nine games, they’re only taking 31 threes a game. It’s not like they’re taking a crazy amount of threes out of nowhere and hitting a bunch of threes. They’re middle of the pack over the last nine games when it comes to three-point percentage. They’re shooting 36%, which is exactly 15th in the NBA over the last nine games. The way that they’re winning games is getting stops and running. It’s the same formula that they had for the last three months last year, and we saw that that was sustainable. They’re carrying it over from last year to this year and just are better at it. that what they’re doing is exactly what their formula was last year. So really, it’s not just is is what they’ve we’ve seen for them this year sustainable. We have seen it now for what? So January, February, March, April, and and uh May, and now we’ve seen October and this is now seven months we’ve seen them play the exact way, the exact same way, and it lead to a ton of success. So, yes, to me, I think it’s very clearly sustainable for the Detroit Pistons because they found their identity. They have found how they want to play. They know who they are. And every single time you go into a game against the Pistons, you know what to expect. So, I think this team, as long as everybody can get healthy, I think they’re going to continue to be at the top of the to not at the top. Let me not guarantee they’ll be the one seed. I’m not going to do that. But I think they will continue to prove that they are one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference throughout the rest of the year because of the improvements along the roster defensively, because of the buyin defensively, and obviously the improvements that you’ve seen from a Jaylen Duran, the improvements that you’ve seen from Anar Thompson, and the the the depth of this team being shown that even if one guy misses a game, you have enough depth on the team to where you don’t freak out. So immediately not so sure if they can sustain it. They need their guys back. Long term though, for the rest of this season, the Pistons are going to be one of the best teams in the league. They have a formula. They know it works. That’s sustainable. There’s nothing fluky about that. They dominate teams in the paint. They’re going to continue to dominate teams in the paint. That’s not, you know, that’s not going anywhere. They’re going to continue to dominate the boards. I want actually, you know what, before we leave, I let me get the points in the paint because I’m pretty sure the Pistons are leading the NBA by quite a margin. They they are scoring 58.3 points per game in the paint in the they’re down that’s number one in the NBA. They’re seventh in the league in fast break points. They’re top 10 in second chance points. They’re sixth in points off turnovers. If we want to have a conversation in three, four months about whether their half court offense will be good enough in the playoffs to win multiple playoff series, then sure, we can have a talk then at at that point. if the half court offense hasn’t improved or isn’t taking steps at that point. But if the question is can the way they’re playing now sustain throughout the regular season, yeah, they’re going to continue to get points off turnovers because they’re great on defense. They’re going to continue to lead the league in second chance points because they play two bigs in Isaiah Stewart and Jaylen Duran who just dominate the glass. They have a of a wing in Osar Thompson who’s incredible on the glass for his position. You have a guard and K Cunningham who’s big for his size that dominates the glass at his position. You have a defense that not only do they get stops, but they run in transition. So, of course, they’re going to continue to be one of the best fast break teams in the league, and they’re going to dominate the points in the paint because all of their players are great at getting to the rim. Assar good at getting to the rim. Cade great at getting to the rim. Jaylen Durren drives and gets to the rim, draws fouls. Isaiah Stewart gets rebounds and puts it back at the rim. Carvert is able to get to the rim. All of this stuff is going like they’re going to be this exact same team four months from now. So, yes, this is sustainable. Just need the guys to get back from injury. So, let me know in the comments section down below or over on Twitter, Cookahill. Do you believe the Pistons are what they are doing, what you’re seeing to start this year is sustainable for the long run. And if you don’t think so, tell me what your biggest concern is with this team. Comment section down below or over on Twitter, cuckill. That’s all I’ve got for you guys today. Thank you guys. Thank you guys for making lockdown on piss your first list of every single day. You guys might be wondering, C, why are you fumbling over the outro? The Lions game starts in two minutes here. I’m trying to get this wrapped up so I can go watch the game. Hit that subscribe button to YouTube channel. Five star view, whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on. Until next time, I’ll see you guys later. Go Lions. Hopefully you guys are watching this and they’ve won. Until next time, peace out everybody.

Detroit Pistons shock the NBA, topping the Eastern Conference with a nine-game win streak despite significant injuries. Can JB Bickerstaff’s defense-first culture keep Detroit at the top? Ku Khahil breaks down the thrilling 114-105 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, spotlighting Javonte Green’s breakout performance, Dennis Jenkins’ fiery matchup against Tyrese Maxey, and Caris LeVert’s steady two-way impact. The Pistons’ success comes from relentless rebounding, suffocating defense, and surprising depth.

Key talking points feature Pistons’ elite defensive rating, Duncan Robinson’s sharpshooting, and the pivotal contributions of role players, while Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, and others remain sidelined. Ku explores whether Detroit’s gritty formula—dominating points in the paint and thriving in transition—can sustain them through injuries and into the postseason hunt. Are the Pistons building a foundation for long-term success, or will missing stars derail their momentum?

SUBSTACK: kukhahil.substack.com

PLAYBACK: playback.tv/watchpistons

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