The Detroit Pistons already are halfway to last season’s win total. They can reach the .500 mark with a home victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday night.
Detroit is coming off its worst season in franchise history, a 14-win debacle. The Pistons have shown dramatic improvement under first-year coach J.B. Bickerstaff.
They have won six of their last nine games, and even the losses during the stretch have displayed their competitiveness. They dropped a one-point decision on a last-second putback at Charlotte, fell by two points to Houston, and lost an overtime decision at Milwaukee.
The Pistons posted their most lopsided victory of the season on Sunday night, 124-104 at Washington.
Detroit’s guard combination of Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey again led the way. Cunningham posted his seventh double-double of the season with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He also sparked the defense with five steals.
“The ball is in his hands the majority of the night, but he understands the total game,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He understands what his teammates need, the team needs in the moment. I think you’re seeing him express all those things. So, he’s growing from a leadership standpoint. He held us accountable for doing the things we needed to do tonight.”
Ivey had season highs with 28 points and eight assists. Ivey has scored 20-plus points six times this season.
“He can hurt you in so many different ways,” Bickerstaff said. “He can get to the basket at will. He’s doing a great job of finding his teammates when people want to commit two bodies to him. And then he picks up full-court most possessions. So he’s setting that head-of-the-snake mentality for our defense as well.”
The Bulls also are playing the tail end of a back-to-back set. Their defense was shredded for the second straight game. After giving up 144 points to Cleveland on Friday, they surrendered 143 in a 36-point loss to Houston on Sunday.
“We didn’t have one guy try and take a charge. Somebody’s got to put their body in a play,” Chicago coach Billy Donovan said. “They kind of just came right through us, and we’re going to have to make a stand.”
Donovan said he felt the team got frustrated when many of their good looks didn’t fall. The Bulls only knocked down 33.6 percent of their overall attempts and 25 percent of their 56 3-point tries.
“We can’t be a team, ‘Well, if we make shots, we’re going to be really competitive. If we don’t, we’re not,'” Donovan said. “We’ve got to find other ways to do it.”
Guard Coby White said the lack of defensive intensity was inexcusable.
“This was an embarrassment,” he said. “This was a disservice to the fans and a disservice to a historic organization. The fans don’t deserve that.”
Monday will mark the first of four meetings between the Eastern Conference Central Division rivals. They’ll play the other three games during an 11-day stretch in February. They split their four-game series last season.
