Good morning. Let’s basketball.

The Tilled Field; Joan Miro; 1923-24

Something obvious when you watch the Detroit Pistons these days is that they absolutely want to win. No one who suits up has given up. It all looks tense and distressed and tight. Everyone hates this.

When the Pistons jumped out to a 22-8 lead on the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday, they were playing with an urgency, a verve that .500 Brooklyn just didn’t have. Jalen Duren came back after missing the last eight games; he was impacting the game on both ends. Bojan Bogdanovic, who’d averaged just about 20 points per game since returning at the start of December, was flying around. The other two players among Detroit’s best four — Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey — weren’t performing well, but they were playing hard.

Bogdanovic went to the bench and the lead started to shrink. Duren and then Cunningham left the game, and the Nets got right back in it. In the second quarter, with Cunningham and Ivey in foul trouble, Monty Williams explored bench lineups with no chance at scoring efficiently … because Williams doesn’t have very many players who can score efficiently in the first place.

Brooklyn, down 14 early, led by seven at the half. It wasn’t because they tried harder or were necessarily better coached. They just had more solid NBA players than the Pistons, and their players performed better over 24 minutes.

Had the game gone on like that — Cunningham had 4-3-4 with 2 turnovers at the half — a lot of Wednesday’s discourse on Detroit would circle around Cade not being good enough. But everyone hates this, maybe especially Cade. And he tried to single-handedly end the streak in the second half.

In a second half in which he didn’t come out of the game: 37 points on 91% eFG, just one turnover. He almost did it for Detroit.

Three minutes left, Pistons down eight, history is calling. Here are the results of the remaining Detroit offensive possessions:

• Cade made three (108-103)

• Bogdanovic missed three

• Cade made lay-up and 1 (109-106)

• Cade made lay-up (112-108)

• Cade made lay-up (112-110)

• Alec Burks missed three coming out of a timeout

Alec Burks missed three. Alec Burks missed three. You can see the shot here.

After the game, Williams indicated the play was drawn up for Cunningham (of course) but that Burks took the shot available.

The rub is that the Pistons roster is so underdeveloped that Burks probably belongs on the court in crunch time for this team. You’re not going to put Kevin Knox or Marcus Sasser or Isaiah Livers out there. Killian Hayes isn’t going to give you what you need in that spot. (He was sick and unavailable anyways.) Honestly, Monte Morris would help a lot … but he’s injured.

The Pistons just don’t have enough players, period. Bogdanovic is a known quantity. Cade has something. Duren and Ivey have promise. Isaiah Stewart, No. 2 in minutes players this season, is a rotation big in the NBA. Ausar Thompson has promise but might be the most raw offensive non-big I’ve seen in a few years. This just doesn’t add up to an NBA rotation.

They’ll win a game, probably sooner rather than later. Hopefully Cade continues to absolve himself on the court; it’s notable that he continues to do press availability after these losses. But this roster just doesn’t have it.

Scores

Magic 127, Wizards 119 — Orlando’s top-5 defense truly feels sustainable given the talent on that end in the backcourt and at center, plus high effort level across the board and a good scheme. Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are high-level scorers most nights. Getting a third player to create offense is the key. On Tuesday, that was rookie Anthony Black (23 points on 85% eFG, but five turnovers).

Nets 118, Pistons 112

Jazz 130, Spurs 118 — The South got something to say. Get it, Collin Sexton.

The Pistons’ record since Halloween is famously 0-27. The Spurs’ record since Halloween? 2-23. That is basically the same!

Timberwolves 106, Thunder 129 — As thorough a beatdown as the Wolves have received this season. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shows up every single time: 34 points on 74% eFG, 9 assists.

Grizzlies 116, Pelicans 115 (OT) - 4-0 since Western Conference Player of the Week Ja Morant’s return, now just 4.5 games out of the play-in with 53 games left.

This one wasn’t exactly easy, though. New Orleans led by 13 entering the fourth quarter. In related news, New Orleans is the fourth worst fourth quarter team in the NBA in terms of net rating at -8.8.

The Pels still had a chance to win … as long as they didn’t let the Grizzlies score or they didn’t foul a Grizzly with 0.4 seconds left in regulation. Alas.

The whole “Marcus Smart can hold down the fort while Morant serves his suspension” thing didn’t really pan out. At all. In part because Smart got injured. But it feels like “Marcus Smart can help take a little pressure off of Morant and replace Dillon Brooks” worked here, though!

Pacers 123, Rockets 117 — Here’s something wild: Indiana outscored Houston 57-15 from beyond the arc. So how the hell was this a 6-point game? Offensive rebounds (Alperen Sengun had seven himself) and turnovers (Indy had twice as many as Houston). The little stuff matters … but not as much as hitting threes.

Hawks 113, Bulls 118 — Andre Drummond is 30 years old and made an All-NBA team once upon a time. I feel like these facts about Andre Drummond have been wiped from the public memory, but they are true. And I am allowed to remind you of these facts because Andre Drummond, in a spot start against a team with good centers, put up 24 points and 25 rebounds on Tuesday.

Kings 113, Blazers 130 — Shout out to the Blazers, who saw an unprotected turkey on the counter and snatched that thing. Sacramento is the most infuriating 17-12 team of all-time. Kings not named De’Aaron Fox (who had 43) or Domantas Sabonis (14/19 from the floor for 34 points) shot 15/48 from the floor, which is bad.

Scoot Henderson with one of his best games as a pro.

Hornets 104, Clippers 113 — Kawhi Leonard sat again. It sounds like he should play this week. Against competent NBA teams, the Clips will need him.

🏆 League Pass Dis-Invitational Update 🏆

We’ve reached roughly the halfway mark of the 2023-24 League Pass Dis-Invitational. The Orlando Magic are dominating, with the Raptors and Blazers following.

Orlando is off until February, so they’ll reign atop the standings for a while longer. We have two more games overall in December and seven more in January. Here’s the schedule.

Schedule

It’s a 6-game evening, no ESPN on account of Bowl Season, I guess? All times Eastern.

Sixers at Magic, 7
Raptors at Wizards, 7, NBA TV 🏆
Bucks at Nets, 7:30
Suns at Rockets, 8
Knicks at Thunder, 8
Cavaliers at Mavericks, 8:30

Alright, be excellent to each other.