Last 12 games have been amazing for the Pistons.

[zeebneeb]

Say what you will about this team but the past 12 games has been the best stretch of basketball this team has played in what seems like an eternity.

#1 10-2 W/L WIN% .833

#8 ppg 117.3

#4 FG% 48.2%

#3 3PM 14.8

#2 3P% 41.0

#1 +/- 11.1

#7 DEF RTG 108.1

#2 OPP 3P% 34%

#2 OPP PTS IN PNT 43.0 (These two together are super impressive)

#2 EFG 56.7%

#7 TO% 12.4

It has been quite a tear and has been awesome to watch. It would seem that shedding Johnson, and Bullock, and the time they saw on the court has made a huge difference in allowing other players to come around and shine.

I dont care what happens from here on out, it's been a much needed, and awesome chunk of one season that we as fans absolutely needed.

Hope they can keep it up. I am actually going to a damn game on Sunday. I havnt even been to the new arena yet. If they lose, I'm not going again for another decade.

[Scottgaf]

Winning is contagious. Players trust each other. Shots start to fall. Effort is everywhere. Keep it going guys.

[vege]

I think it has more to do with Blake talking to the team and especially Reggie Jackson after that stupid dance for the camera during the Blake's depressed interview after a win, than anything else.

Stanley Johnson was clearly hurting the team, so yes, addition by substraction (Thon is bad, but he does what he has to do, plays hard, defend - he has size and length - block shots and go hard after every rebound, SJ would just defend and be a black hole on offense), but Bullock was better than Ellington, even tho Ellington fit really well with the team like I expected, would be great if we could have both. Bullock, Ellington and Kennard on the wings would be very solid, with Bruce Brown playing limited minutes to defend the other team's best perimeter player. Galloway is very inconsistent, so there are enough minutes and shots available at the wings.

Blake has been playing very different in those 12 games, which is also probably the reason why Drummond/Reggie and Kennard have improved so much.

Ellington's defense is better than I expected, he's been very good, he is a smart player, so like I said, he fit really well in our starting lineup, it's always great to have high BBIQ players who can hit 3's and play defense, I hope we bring him back next season.

[DetroitSho]

That whole post game interview was overblown. That was just ill-timed, nothing more. It's not like Reggie or anyone else has stopped crashing post game interviews since then.

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[DBC10]

Are we really sure Bullock is all that good though? I mean SJ is the classic addition by subtraction move since he consistently got some minutes and did either something or absolutely nothing.

But the Lakers haven’t looked all that great even with a shooter in Bullock and Muscala that they desperately needed and they’re still more or less the same. Even though that largely is the fault of Lebron and Klutch trying to trade the entire team for AD and nuked team chemistry.

I think both SJ and Bullock needed to go for a while.

[Laimbeer]

Being less Blake-centric has been great for them. Hell, he scored 9 points last night and they ran away with it. Gotta give Casey credit where credit is due - he's gotten much more from this team than I thought. The lazy observation of Dre being an ineffective stat machine is finally getting a rest.

[DetroitSho]

Being less Blake-centric has been great for them. Hell, he scored 9 points last night and they ran away with it. Gotta give Casey credit where credit is due - he's gotten much more from this team than I thought. The lazy observation of Dre being an ineffective stat machine is finally getting a rest.

That lazy observation as well as the asinine "Dre and Blake don't fit" narrative.

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[Laimbeer]

Being less Blake-centric has been great for them. Hell, he scored 9 points last night and they ran away with it. Gotta give Casey credit where credit is due - he's gotten much more from this team than I thought. The lazy observation of Dre being an ineffective stat machine is finally getting a rest.

That lazy observation as well as the asinine "Dre and Blake don't fit" narrative.

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Yeah, we're a playoff team with perhaps the worst wings in the league.

[davidvolumes]

I over the years have been hopeful frustrated and extremely critical of andre play. with his size and athleticism I could always Envision this type of play I just never thought I would see the day he would actually fulfill his level of potential congratulations to Andre for all the hard work that he's put in

[DBC10]

I over the years have been hopeful frustrated and extremely critical of andre play. with his size and athleticism I could always Envision this type of play I just never thought I would see the day he would actually fulfill his level of potential congratulations to Andre for all the hard work that he's put in

Considering it was right to criticize his play over the years, it was deserved. But he’s making his turn around and it’s good to see. We go far as how he and Blake (who transformed his game) takes us. Really goes to show how much of an impact having Blake and his star power pulls thru for lifting up our players. If we had Tobias and Morris during our lowest points in ours season, instead of Blake, I’m not sure we pull thru like we have in our last ten games. Now we just need to shore up perimeter play considering we don’t know how long we have until RJs knees break down again.

I wish we had cap space for a legit 3 since we never had that since probably Tayshaun?

[Snakebites]

Tough to argue with any of that. No matter which way you look at it or what kind of stats you look at, we’ve been great.

We’ve only had a few games against really strong opponents but have responded well in them.

The point guard play has been particularly good. Both Reggie and Ish might be in the midst of their best stretches as Pistons.

Shooting makes the difference too. I’d say Kennard should be starting because the spacing would help the bigs but Luke’s chemistry with Ish is so good I’d guess Casey doesn’t want to disrupt it.

[bballnmike]

Healthy Reggie + healthy Ish >>> injured/not in shape Reggie + Jose Calderon. It allows them to be less reliant on Blake to do everything on offense, gets everyone else more involved/confident, and Dre is much more engaged overall and not forcing bad shots since he's involved in the PnR more.

Other big x-factor is obviously Kennard, he's playing with more confidence and hopefully a longer leash now where he doesn't have to worry about missing a shot. His defense and hustle has been way better lately too.

[theBigLip]

I'm totally bipolar with this team. I was quietly optimistic to start the season, thinking playoffs would be realistic expectations, then I wanted the team to be blown up around trade deadline, now I'm pretty happy where we're at. Good thing I'm not the GM

[Spider156]

Being less Blake-centric has been great for them. Hell, he scored 9 points last night and they ran away with it. Gotta give Casey credit where credit is due - he's gotten much more from this team than I thought. The lazy observation of Dre being an ineffective stat machine is finally getting a rest.

That lazy observation as well as the asinine "Dre and Blake don't fit" narrative.

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Yeah, we're a playoff team with perhaps the worst wings in the league.

Best big men in the league though. A point guard can get the wings involved, they just need open shots.

[Kilo]

I just hope Griffin isn't playing injured in any way right now.

In a Red Beard article (IIRC) Dre or Reggie said Blake pulled them aside and said to play their two-man PNR game with Blake being the emergency pressure valve to find if it's guarded right in the situation. This sounds great, but Griffin seems to be a bit in a pissy mood lately even with all the winning. People who are playing through pain usually are in pissy moods.

We traded Bullock so there would be no fan pressure to re-sign him. If he played out here the season he'd have wanted $40M over four and leverage to walk otherwise. A distant SRP and Svi Mykhailiuk is basically a zero return. I have to imagine there was low level tampering with Ellington - or discussions sanctioned by Miami at the time. Because Miami needed to dump him for tax purposes - and Detroit could offer the rest of their MLE, meaning Ellington could take a bigger buyout given we could still make him whole here. So Miami then dumps Ellington to PHX in Ryan Anderson deal, with PHX knowing they can buy out Ellington for x-amount more than a usual buyout.

Ish is a HUGE upgrade over Calderon as well - night and day what they offer with the second unit.

[Spider156]

I think what's happening is we don't have bad shooters anymore. When that happens you can't cheat off Drummond. You have Blake getting double teamed, you can't leave an open shooter and you can't ignore Drummond inside swallowing up any second chance touches he can get. Also Drummond has been much more efficient shooting in the post. He's developed a touch that's working along with his free throws. When you have big men that gather that much attention, pick and rolls for Kennard become that much easier because Drummond is that big. Having the option to go to a go-to scorer allows you to be comfortable. Jackson and Blake are both go to scorers. Issue in the past is Jackson has always ran out of gas because all the responsibility fell on his head. Harris is not the go to scorer or playmaker Blake is. This is why we made the trade and the key ingredient is losing Stanley Johnson to become a better shooting team, staying healthy, and opening up Drummond inside. We are one Ariza type of player away from contending.

[DBC10]

I just hope Griffin isn't playing injured in any way right now.

In a Red Beard article (IIRC) Dre or Reggie said Blake pulled them aside and said to play their two-man PNR game with Blake being the emergency pressure valve to find if it's guarded right in the situation. This sounds great, but Griffin seems to be a bit in a pissy mood lately even with all the winning. People who are playing through pain usually are in pissy moods.

We traded Bullock so there would be no fan pressure to re-sign him. If he played out here the season he'd have wanted $40M over four and leverage to walk otherwise. A distant SRP and Svi Mykhailiuk is basically a zero return. I have to imagine there was low level tampering with Ellington - or discussions sanctioned by Miami at the time. Because Miami needed to dump him for tax purposes - and Detroit could offer the rest of their MLE, meaning Ellington could take a bigger buyout given we could still make him whole here. So Miami then dumps Ellington to PHX in Ryan Anderson deal, with PHX knowing they can buy out Ellington for x-amount more than a usual buyout.

Ish is a HUGE upgrade over Calderon as well - night and day what they offer with the second unit.

If we don’t re-sign Ish, we’re going to be in a deep hurdle but I can see someone like Phoenix offering him a decent contract that outbids us. Unless he chases a ring to a contender too. But I feel like he likes it here enough so we’ll see.

Griffin might be saving his tank for the playoffs and letting Dre and RJ get in rhythm for a playoff run too. Load management is what they call it nowadays

[GreekAlex]

I'm totally bipolar with this team. I was quietly optimistic to start the season, thinking playoffs would be realistic expectations, then I wanted the team to be blown up around trade deadline, now I'm pretty happy where we're at. Good thing I'm not the GM

I went through that same roller coaster ride of emotions. I’m definitely satisfied and enjoying this run of good basketball. Hopefully Stefanski can get creative in the offseason to improve the roster and that coupled with internal growth will be fun to build on.

[zeebneeb]

On a related note, for those who have been to the LCA, is there something I shouldn't miss both food and non-food related? What to watch out for? Interesting places or booths?

[Drwho17]

Someone mentioned it, I think Blake Griffin is playing through some injury right now, hopefully he can heal up and get back to the way he was earlier in the year, I think his style of play can really be effective in the playoffs.