The Detroit Pistons weren’t great last year and are expected to be bad this year as well. But you would still expect them to track how many players are on the floor.
A promising season opener turned into a disappointment on Wednesday against the Indiana Pacers, with Detroit trailing 33-19 in the fourth quarter of a 115-109 loss. One of the goals conceded was very avoidable.
The Pistons, who held a 98-96 lead midway through the fourth, had six players on the floor ready to inbound the ball. Officials immediately called the team a technical foul because there were too many people on the court.
The subsequent telestrator work was perfect.
The game marked the debut of new Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff, but when Benedict Mathurin gave away the Pacers’ free throws, Bickerstaff argued his case with officials.
The rest of the game wasn’t much better for Detroit.
The Pistons had some bad moments in the season opener. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
Despite the terrible start to the season, there weren’t any silver linings for the Pistons. Especially if you remember that they need to play well in the third quarter to enable a fourth-quarter collapse. Cade Cunningham continued to look like a rising star with 28 points, eight assists and five rebounds, but five other players also scored in double figures.
After missing the playoffs for five straight seasons, the Pistons, desperate to emerge from a rebuilding phase and become competitive again, fired head coach Monty Williams and spent $65 million to hire Bickerstaff. That’s right.
