This will be one of the Pistons last chances for an “easy” win before a tough stretch to close out the season.
Many teams in the NBA are “banged up” at this time of the year. Some teams have legit injuries while others have “injuries” to allow them rest days for players as we close out the season. In the case of the San Antonio Spurs , it is the former as they are without Victor Wembanyama for the remainder of the season along with De’Aaron Fox.
I wouldn’t say this game is a must-win, but given the stretch of games the Pistons have to close out the season, they are not going to have a ton of games left in which they are favored or at least heavily favored, so a win tonight is very important.
This doesn’t mean the San Antonio Spurs can be taken lightly. As the Pistons have seen in their loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday and tough battle with the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday, any team in the NBA can win any night regardless of who they have playing. If they are not engaged from start to finish, the Pistons could be looking at yet another disappointing loss, which they have had a couple of in the last few weeks.
Game Vitals
Where: Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, MI
When: Tuesday, March 25 at 7 pm EST
Watch: Fan Duel Sports Network Detroit
Odds: Pistons (-10.5)
Analysis
Despite missing their two best players in Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox, the San Antonio Spurs have won 4 of their last 5 games. Granted, it wasn’t the toughest stretch of games with their only win against a “good” team coming against a Knicks team without Jalen Brunson.
However, as a team with not much left to play for and playing a lot of young players at this point in the season, you take whatever you can get.
As the Pistons try to inch their way closer to clinching a spot in the Playoffs and avoiding the Play-In Tournament, winning games like tonight are crucial. I wouldn’t call the Pistons schedule in April brutal, but it is very tough and the Atlanta Hawks , 4.5 games behind the Pistons for 6th in the East, are playing extremely well and have a way easier schedule to close out the season.
The Pistons can afford to lose games they are supposed to like their upcoming games against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder, but they cannot afford to lose against a short-handed San Antonio Spurs team.
Based on how Sunday’s game went without Cade Cunningham, I would expect him to play tonight unless the calf injury he is nursing is more serious than the team is letting on. It seems like one of those “injuries” that players get against an inferior team to give them a day to rest, but I guess we will see.
The short-handed Spurs are definitely a better team than the short-handed Pelicans the Pistons faced on Sunday and beating them took a career night from Ron Holland and an absolute heater by Marcus Sasser. Those two really did bail out the Pistons from disaster after a poor effort defensively combined with an offense that despite scoring 136 points, was not quite as sharp without Cade.
A dropoff on offense is obviously expected when you are without your starting point guard, but fighting to the final buzzer against that Pelicans team is a bit concerning. At this point in the season you take whatever wins you can get, but a similar effort tonight will likely not end with the same result.
Part of it was an unbelievably hot night shooting beyond the arc by the Pelicans, but the Pistons also were not giving them much resistance on their 3-point attempts.
It is still up in the air whether Tim Hardaway Jr. plays tonight, so the Pistons could be without two starters if both him and Cade ultimately do not play.
No matter who is on the floor for the Pistons, they need to re-engage defensively and put together a zero-doubt win. Ausar Thompson getting back to his February form would be a huge help towards doing that, as he has struggled with fouls and creating offense the last couple weeks.
A win tonight locks up at least a .500 record for the Pistons.
Lineups
Detroit Pistons (40-32): Cade Cunningham, Malik Beasley, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren
San Antonio Spurs (31-39): Chris Paul, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Harrison Barnes, Bismack Biyombo
Question of the Day
If the Pistons do lock up a playoff spot before the season ends, do you think they should rest players or keep them playing to try to keep momentum going into the playoffs?