Brooklyn Nets vs. Detroit Pistons preview: on the road vs. a rising organization
Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
After a rough game in Brooklyn vs. the Trail Blazers, the Nets flew out Friday night to Detroit for the first game of a mini road trip. This was the 19-win team we all dreamed of. It was a nightmare.
After holding their own for three quarters vs. one of the league’s preeminent teams on Wednesday night the Brooklyn Nets were tossed about like rag dolls by the Portland Trail Blazers Friday, losing by 19. It wasn’t that close. Moreover, the star of the show vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder, Day-Ron Sharpe, did a complete reversal vs. Portland. Day-Day, who put up 25 points, 15 board and 5 assists vs. OKC, numbers only matched six times in franchise history, put up only six points in limited time and even fouled out... in 19 minutes.
There wasn’t much else to talk about. Cam Thomas did come back and did score 16 points but showed some expected rust, shooting 7-of-17 and missing all four of his threes. He’ll get better. Also, Killian Hayes had his second straight double digit scoring night. More on him later.
Time for a new start in Detroit vs the Pistons, the second game of a back-to-back.
Where to Watch
Check out the action at 7:00 p.m. ET on the YES Network and NBA League Pass.
Injuries
Cam Thomas and Trendon Watford were both late scratches (left hamstring injury management, aka back-to-back.) joining D’Angelo Russell and Noah Clowney (both ankles,) Dariq Whitehead (knee soreness,) and DeAntony Melton (torn ACL) Tosan Evbuomwan or Kendall Brown remain with Long Island who are playing in Frisco, Texas, Saturday.
Jaden Ivey, the Pistons guard will be out (lower leg.) Two two-ways, Ron Harper Jr. and Tolu Smith, are on G League assignment.
The Game
The Pistons are also on the back end of a back-to-back, having lost Friday night to the Denver Nuggets, 134-119. Like the Nets-Blazers, the final score didn’t tell the full story. Denver and Nikola Jokic dominated and ended the Pistons’ eight-game win streak, which was tied for the NBA’s longest with the Cavaliers going into the game. Jokic dropped 23 points, 17 rebounds, 15 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal.
This is the third and final game between the two teams with Detroit besting Brooklyn in the first two. Neither were particularly close.
Despite last night’s loss, the Pistons remain one of the league’s surprising teams. At 33-27, they’re the sixth seed in the East and only a game out of fourth. You certainly could have expected some improvement from the Cade Cunningham-led squad but the combination of their success and a number of East Coast teams’ failures has vaulted him up the ladder. In their just concluded winning streak, they beat the Celtics and Clippers. (They also beat a couple of tanking clubs as well, the Bulls twice and the forlorn Sixers.)
For the Nets, the story, beyond getting back on a winning track, is Killian Hayes. For Hayes, the 6’5” 23-year-old point guard, this is looking like one of the most pivotal games in his five year NBA career. Not only is he going up against the Pistons, the team that drafted him in the lottery in 2020, then dumped him a year ago. It’s the final game of his initial 10-day deal.
The player the Pistons waived at last season’s deadline was one who couldn’t shoot. His career shooting splits were 38.2% overall and an even worse 27.7% from deep in Detroit. How bad was that? He was the worst in the NBA in effective field goal percentage in each of his first three seasons, never getting above 42.6%, well below the league average of 54.8%.
“It didn’t work because of his shooting. He never got his shooting,” said then Pistons’ GM Troy Weaver on why he cut Hayes. “The guy can really defend, we’ve seen his playmaking ability, but if you’re a guard in the NBA you have to make shots.”
Since being redeemed by the Nets, Hayes has made impressive strides, first in Long Island and now with Brooklyn. In his last seven G League games before his call-up, Hayes shot 57/50/89 and in his first five games in black-and-white, he’s put up 46/42/80. Moreover, in his last two, the numbers have jumped to 57/54/100, scoring 35 points.
The Nets can hang on to him for another 10 days but must make that decision before the Nets play the Spurs on Tuesday.
Player to Watch
Of course, it’s Cade. Cunningham isn’t just the leading scorer on the Pistons. He’s their leader and the reason why with some luck, they could wind with homecourt advantage in the first round. In fact, they currently have 33 wins, more they won in the last two seasons combined.
Cunningham is putting up 25.4 points this season along with 9.4 assists and 6.4 rebounds. In the eight-game winning streak just concluded, he had a triple double, and games of 29, 32 and 38 points and four games with double-digit assists. He also made his All-Star debut during that stretch.
As an NBA.com feature on Cunningham noted before the Pistons loss to the Nuggets:
Even though there have long been huge expectations on his shoulders ever since he was chosen as the first overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, this 2024-25 campaign has been the year where Cade Cunningham has finally put it all together. He’s taken the necessary leap from being a developmental building block on a rebuilding team to becoming a star floor general league-wide, and his numbers back that up.
He did have a rough night vs. the Nuggets. After getting into early foul trouble, he finished the first half with a single point on 0-for-3 shooting. On the night he had a season-low 11 points, shooting only 3-for-12 overall.
From the Vault
Sixty years ago this month, Tammi Terrell, one of the great singer-songwriters in mid-century America, was noticed by Motown founder Berry Gordy in a Detroit club. She was signed in April on her 20th birthday, leading to a lightning four-year career that ended with her death four years and eight surgeries later from a brain tumor.
In that period, she and Marvin Gaye scored seven Top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, ”Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” and “You’re All I Need to Get By”.
Ain’t nothing like “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” baby...
Both of them gone too soon.
More reading: Detroit Bad Boys and SBNation NBA.
Brooklyn Nets Game Notes - Brooklyn Nets
Detroit Pistons Game Notes - Detroit Pistons
Pistons look to start new win streak vs. Nets - NBA
Brooklyn takes on Detroit, looks to halt 3-game skid - AP
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