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Brooklyn Nets vs Detroit Pistons preview: Motor City resurgent

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Detroit Pistons v Phoenix Suns
Photo by Kelsey Grant/Getty Images

After years in the NBA wilderness and some awful draft lottery luck, the Detroit Pistons are a .500 team.

The effort is there. The baskets, however, are not. The Brooklyn Nets put up a good fight on Monday night against the Indiana Pacers. However, Indy proved to be too much as they won by 14 points. Brooklyn has one more game on this homestand before an extended road trip.

The opponent tonight is looking pretty dang good! The Detroit Pistons have been one of the best stories in the NBA this season and have a more than decent chance of making it to the postseason! They helped the cause by coming back from down 22 points to beat the Portland Trailblazers on Monday night. Good business!

Where to follow the game

YES Network on TV. WFAN on radio. Tip after 7:30 PM.

Injuries

Jaden Ivey recently fractured his left fibula and will be out indefinitely. Ausar Thompson is out due to an illness.

No Cam Thomas, Cam Johnson, Bojan Bogdanovic, Maxwell Lewis, D’Angelo Russell, DeAnthony Melton, or Trendan Watford. Ben Simmons is questionable with lower back injury management. Expect to see more of newly acquired two-ways, Tosan Evbuomwan and Reece Beekman, filling in. They combined for 42 minutes vs. Indiana.

The game

Detroit won the first meeting.

A little over a year ago, radio host Mike Valenti took a blowtorch to the Pistons organization

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These days, the team is a lot better and the vibes are a million percent better than last season. JB Bickerstaff has been a huge part of that shift. As Aaron Kellerstrass of Piston Powered explained:

The Pistons development of young players has stalled in the past for many reasons, including that the young players never had defined roles and never had to earn minutes.

That is not the case with Bickerstaff, who knows exactly what he wants from every player who steps on the floor. He’s not asking players to do things they can’t do, but instead has each of them playing to their strengths.

He’s kept the young guys in bench roles that have kept them from getting exposed. He’s plugged in guys like Holland and Reed for a boost of energy and each veteran has a very defined role.

Bickerstaff has been a big part of this turnaround and deserves credit for understanding his team and how best to deploy them.”

These are the best moments for a young team figuring things out. You’ve made it out of the storm and the sun is shining through. Things will change as the team adjusts to new expectations, but for now, enjoy the ride. We did and hope we will again soon.

How will the Nets find offense? If Monday is any indication, they’re going to have to feast on the offensive boards. Big problem with that this time around is the Pistons are the third best defensive rebounding team in the NBA in 2024-2025.

We need to get Cade Cunningham to the All Star Game.

Player to watch: Tobias Harris

Every young team needs a solid vet to guide them through, and Tobias Harris has stepped into that role nicely. Although he’s shooting a league average 35.2% from 3-point range, his ability to knock threes down has been a godsend for the Pistons. Prior to this season, the Pistons were consistently one of the worst three point shooting teams in basketball. Since the start of the 2020-2021 season, Detroit finished

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in 3-point percentage. If you’re not respectable from that distance, the floor shrinks and scoring becomes INCREDIBLY difficult.

Ziaire Williams got his groove back. Over the past three games, after returning from an ankle sprain, ZW has averaged 12.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists on shooting splits of 57/53/83. He’s likely to get the Cade Cunningham assignment. Remember, Williams like Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe, is a restricted free agent this summer.

From the Vault

A few days ago, I was reading a story about basketball writers naming their most underrated players of all time. Here’s Quinn Everts’ selection:

Do you remember who scored the most points in the NBA in 2000-2001? It wasn’t Kobe, Shaq, Tim Duncan, KG, T-Mac, or Vince Carter. It was Jerry Stackhouse. He was one of the best scorers of the late 90s and early 2000s, posting some staggering numbers with the Pistons along with two All-Star appearances.

Unfortunately those Pistons teams were… well, they were awful. Detroit didn’t win much in those days so Stackhouse’s scoring prowess didn’t garner much attention. Still, Stackhouse was an elite scorer, so when he joined the Dallas Mavericks later in his career not everyone was sure he’d embrace a lesser role on a team with high expectations. Not only did Stackhouse embrace a sixth man role, he thrived in it; although his years with Dallas aren’t his most impressive statistical outputs, those are the years he made the biggest impact on winning. I will not let history forget how good Jerry Stackhouse was. I can’t!

With that in mind, let’s pull up one of Stack’s greatest games

More reading: Detroit Bad Boys, SB Nation NBA