The Detroit Pistons have been without injured guards Jaden Ivey and Marcus Sasser to start the season. Tobias Harris joined them shortly after with an ankle sprain, and this ankle sprain somehow became contagious as Isaiah Stewart, Ausar Thompson, and Jalen Duren all caught one, too. Cade Cunningham also took the night off after his hard fall in Monday night’s win.
Look at this injury report:
Even with most of the rotation injured, Detroit’s third-stringers and G-Leaguers took it to the Chicago Bulls in route to a 124-113 victory. The Pistons rolled out a starting lineup of Daniss Jenkins, Duncan Robinson, Javonte Green, Ron Holland, and Paul Reed.
Detroit started the game off hot and never looked back – they led by 16 at halftime and pushed the lead to 23 with two-and-a-half minutes left in the third quarter. They let the Bulls chip away with a 21-2 run in the fourth to cut Detroit’s lead to one, but a Paul Reed and-one followed by a Ron Holland transition dunk stopped the bleeding.
Just like these Pistons have done all season, they answered back. A 23-10 run put the Bulls out of reach of the lead again, and Detroit’s bench would go on to beat Chicago by double-digits. It was a pretty impressive win tonight.
Paul Reed might’ve had his best game in his career as he finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, four steals, and a block in 31 minutes. He shot 11-for-13 from the field, two-for-two from deep, and four-for-four from the line. He looked fantastic on both ends of the court and played with energy the entire night.
Duncan Robinson looked poised to take on the role of being the starter to let it fly with all the injuries, and he did not disappoint. He connected on seven of his ten three-pointers and had 23 points on an efficient 13 attempts. He made some pretty impressive movement threes that we haven’t really seen out of him too often so far this year.
Daniss Jenkins played a whopping 41 minutes as he replaced Cade Cunningham tonight as Detroit’s starting point guard. He continues to show he’s capable of contributing at the NBA level by adding 18 points, four rebounds, and 12 assists. We’ll see what the future holds, but at what point do you prioritize the last roster spot on Jenkins?
This was probably Caris LeVert’s best game yet in his short Pistons tenure, and he played like the sixth-man we knew from the JB Bickerstaff Cleveland days. He looked more comfortable as an on-ball creator against the Bulls defense and did a good job getting to the rim. LeVert shot 8-for-11 from the field for 17 points and also dished out five assists.
The newly 10-2 Detroit Pistons sit alone at the top of the Eastern Conference as they’re the first team to reach double-digit wins. Only the reigning NBA champions OKC Thunder have more wins than Detroit at the moment. This was a huge win against a divisional opponent that were one of their two losses earlier in the season. Most importantly, they did it behind the big performances of their veteran acquisitions and minute-deserving third-stringers.
Detroit’s four straight games at home continues with their third taking place on Friday night against Philadelphia followed by Indiana on Monday.
