Cade Cunningham and Simone Fontecchio join Detroit’s injury list
The Detroit Pistons are entering tonight’s matchup against what might be the NBA’s best team in the Boston Celtics , and they are doing it severely depleted. Cade Cunningham and Simone Fontecchio are out tonight against the Celtics. Cunningham is being rested for continued knee management. Fontecchio, who had excelled in a starting role in place of the injured Ausar Thompson, is out with a toe contusion. Thompson remains out with what is thought to be an asthma-related issue and Quentin Grimes is out with a right knee contusion. The Celtics aren’t exactly beacons of health either. Jaylen Brown is listed as questionable and Jrue Holiday, Sam Hauser and Al Horford are all out with various ailments.
Let’s talk about knees briefly. Cade’s shot hasn’t looked quite right recently, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the knee is a real issue that is limiting his effectiveness. His 3-ball has gone from around 38% to 33% to 25% in the course of the past 15 games. Cunningham is also shooting sub-50% in the restricted area in his past 15 games. His ability to finish at the rim despite a lack of explosion was one of the signs throughout the season that Cade had really turned a corner. To see it regress recently is disappointing and, I think, points to more of a health/strength issue than an ability issue.
Grimes’s knee issue, meanwhile, seems like it is likely to linger for the rest of this season. That’s unfortunate because it’d be nice to see how Grimes fits into this mishmash of an offense, and it would be good to see him build up some chemistry with his teammates. Grimes suffered a subluxation of his right patella on Feb. 26 while still with the New York Knicks . That’s, I believe, a fancy way of saying he had a partial knee dislocation. I’m not worried about this long-term, but I’m not very hopeful we’ll get a look at what Grimes can really bring to the Pistons rotation until next season.
The game is also notable because on the Celtics broadcast side of the ledger, there will be an all-female crew including Zora Stephenson on play-by-play, with Abby Chin and Connecticut Sun player DiJonai Carrington as gam analysts. ESPN’s Kayla Burton will also serve as an in-game sideline reporter at TD Garden. The pre-, mid-, and postgame will be hosted by Amina Smith, Connecticut Sun team president Jennifer Rizzotti, and Boston Celtics Scout and Maine Celtics assistant GM Ashley Battle.
Game Vitals
When: 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Watch: Bally Sports Detroit
Odds: Pistons +16
Projected Lineups
Detroit Pistons (12-55)
Jaden Ivey, Evan Fournier, Stanley Umude(?), Isaiah Stewart, Jalen Duren
Boston Celtics (53-14)
Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Svi Mykhailiuk, Oshae Brissett, Kristaps Porzingis