The Detroit Pistons continued their impressive season with a victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, winning 133-122 even without their star point guard Cade Cunningham. Cunningham was sidelined due to a calf contusion.
This win marked Detroit`s 42nd victory of the season, a significant jump from just 14 wins the previous year. This remarkable 28-win improvement is unprecedented in NBA history, making the Pistons the first team to triple their win count from a full 82-game season. While the Charlotte Bobcats also tripled their wins in 2012-13, their starting point was a lockout-shortened season.
Despite this turnaround, Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff is unlikely to be named Coach of the Year. The award is widely expected to go to Kenny Atkinson of Cleveland.
Regardless, Bickerstaff has successfully instilled a competitive and defensively strong mentality in the Pistons. While Cunningham`s performance has been outstanding, Detroit`s ability to defeat the top-ranked Eastern Conference Cavaliers without him demonstrates the team`s overall strength. They are now just two losses behind the Indiana Pacers for a top-four seed with only eight games remaining.
In Cunningham`s absence, Tim Hardaway Jr. stepped up with a phenomenal 32-point game, including seven three-pointers, leading the Pistons to victory. The team finished the game with a decisive 12-1 run.
“Always next man up,” Hardaway Jr. stated after the game.
All five Pistons starters scored at least 16 points. Jalen Duren contributed 16 points and 13 rebounds, Malik Beasley added 19 points with three three-pointers, and Dennis Schroder scored 17 points with a game-high plus-16 rating. Ausar Thompson, showcasing similar talent to his twin brother Amen in Houston, posted 18 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks, and two steals, including an impressive alley-oop.
The Pistons have won 17 of their last 23 games, boasting the league`s best defense and fourth-best offense during this stretch. They are proving to be a formidable team that could pose a significant challenge to any opponent in the first round of the playoffs.
