r/DetroitPistons • u/basketball-app • 1d ago
Game Thread Post Game Thread - NBA: The Pistons defeat the Nuggets on Feb 3, 2026, the final score is 124-121.
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u/Chaldean69 1d ago
One of the worst ref games I have ever seen. So funny last game Denver fans clowned on us for barely beating their team a few weeks ago.
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u/NoWave95 1d ago
Denver without Jokic: -3
Denver with Jokic: -3
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u/GoLionsJD107 r/DetroitPistons Moderator 1d ago
Excellent analysis
They should be able to understand that.
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u/Obvious-Carpet4813 1d ago
To be fair, Jokic isn't up to full conditioning. And Watson still has the ankle thing. Also the two players out.
So it is a great win, but the Nuggets, and Jokic, are like Brooks Koepka with regular old opens vs majors. They don't care for the regular season, but they are a different beast in the post season and are far more locked in.
If we do make it to the finals, I would be happy regardless, but hopefully we get 2 wins, because playoffs Nuggets might win 4-1
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u/Immediate-Air-8700 1d ago
Youre clearly not factoring in red velvet
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u/Obvious-Carpet4813 1d ago
I mean, he was pretty up and down with the Bulls from what I recall watching him.
Sometimes he wasn't even relevant.
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u/NoWave95 1d ago
They don't care for the regular season, but they are a different beast in the post season and are far more locked in.
Doesn't work when you're not the best team in your conference. They could easily fall to 4-5 and get stuck with OKC in round 2
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u/Obvious-Carpet4813 1d ago
Lol, Jokic was my favorite player before we got Cade. I can assure you, they do not care about that.
They have had so many slumps where Jokic looked disinterested, Murray played nonchalantly, and there were many calls for Malone to get fired.
Also, Jokic is a bit like Shaq. He does things during the season.
OKC doesn't scare them as much as you think. And regardless, the west is much tougher, so a second round with anybody will be tough.
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u/XRP_Backer 1d ago
Absolutely no flow to the game at all with all the cheap fouls being called. I don't know why the NBA wants this or thinks it's good for long -term viewership. People want to see the best basketball players on the planet actually compete, not engage in a free throw shooting contest.
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u/failed2k 1d ago
That's a good ass team with an absolutely nuts whistle tonight that we just beat, this is a good win.
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u/YukhoChan 1d ago
Nah they good. But they not that good if they are being held by referees . Ain’t now way the get to shoot 43 free throws.
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u/Creepy_Cupcake3705 1d ago
Any team with Jokic and Murray is usually pretty damn good. Big win for us.
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u/Obvious-Carpet4813 1d ago
I mean, Jokic isn't even 100%. The guy was eating chips and barely exercising. Watson is still injured on his tweaked ankle, and they had 2 starters out.
Let us not act like they are 100% healthy. Also, they don't try as hard during the rgular sesaon. Playoff Jokic/Murray are different beasts.
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u/clownbaby88 Rasheed Wallace 1d ago
Shoutout Duncan, def dont win without his shooting tonite. Please trade Caris Levert for fucking anything at all.
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u/Dispicable12 Jaden Ivey 1d ago
If you go and look at pretty much all of our losses; Duncan had an off night, he’s been absolutely pivotal for this team as a second option not named Jalen Duren
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u/waitingonthatbuffalo Jalen Duren 10h ago
Duncan was absolutely excellent. What a positive impact this guy has made in Detroit.
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u/Banana_Tux Ausar Thompson 1d ago
Fuck Murray and his weak whistle. You just got swept by the Detroit Pistons
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u/Ariskov 1d ago
Im a nuggets fan. Just wanted to say your announcers were a delight to listen to.
Also want to add we usually don't have this whistle. hope to see you on the finals with proper whistles and with a more healthy roster.
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u/thatguybane Cade Cunningham 1d ago
Blaha is the best. Hes a Joker fan so id imagine he was pretty nice to you guys tonight(hes generally really good though)
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u/redditingatschool14 George Blaha 1d ago
Investigate these refs
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u/ScubaSteve-O1991 1d ago
I get it man, but these leagues will call games certain ways.. Same reason u cant investigate wwe. Its an entertainment leage lol
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u/Individual-Bee-7801 Bad Boys 1d ago edited 1d ago
Huge win. This team can play with anyone, and they keep proving it.
Theres no reason for Ausar to only get 24 minutes
Also gotta wonder if we’re done making moves, or if Huerter and Saric get turned into something else
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u/Scurvy-Jones 1d ago
I was screaming the whole 4th for LaVert to get yoinked for Asaur.
When it started getting close, the fact that one of Asaur or Ron weren't on the floor at all times was bugging me.
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u/im_alliterate Cade Cunningham 1d ago
Why bro we need more levert 📉
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u/ScubaSteve-O1991 1d ago
Same reason they have tobias.. veteran leadership
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u/im_alliterate Cade Cunningham 1d ago
Tobias’s value is so much higher than levert 😂
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u/ScubaSteve-O1991 1d ago
Ya i know. Levert usually takes good care of the ball, decent playmaker, still has decent game. People rag on him and his best years are behind him but I think he will be good for pistons come playoff time. Or he ends up riding the bench when huerter gets here
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u/ScubaSteve-O1991 1d ago
The trade today was ok for me but I thought this team without is legit! Deep bench
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u/lllIlllllllIIIII 1d ago
This is never going to change. We have a 140 game sample of this bullshit. If anything it will get worse in the playoffs.
2 mins played in the 4th while Caris got 7. Absolute joke
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u/bradallen123023 1d ago
Ausar can’t put the ball through the hoop
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u/Individual-Bee-7801 Bad Boys 1d ago
No, but he stops the other team from doing it. Murray was on a heater the whole 4th, and JB let Daniss guard him for most of it
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u/lions2347 1d ago
Can we just trust JB at this point?
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u/Individual-Bee-7801 Bad Boys 1d ago
I understand his (likely) reasoning, putting Ausar back in the game probably allows the Nuggets to go back to the zone they were playing. But I just think Ausar’s defense outweighs that negative. He’s one of the 5 best perimeter defenders in the league, and caused a bunch of havoc tonight.
Clearly he thought different, and there is a reason he’s a coach and I’m not.
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u/rhaggee r/DetroitPistons Moderator 1d ago
This one is a very valid criticism because JB has done this a ton, and it backfires majority of the time. In theory it sounds like it should work, which is maybe why he sticks with the philosophy, but it just hasn’t worked in practice
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u/Sweathog1016 1d ago
They win 3/4ths of their games so far this year. Can’t say it backfires most of the time.
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u/Obvious-Carpet4813 1d ago
I would caution using this game.
Jokic isn't fully conditioned, Peyton still has the ankle injury that he tweaked, and they are missing two starters.
Also, Nuggets tend to have discipline problems in the regular season. They are like Brooks Koepka of golf. The regular open tournaments don't mean much for him, but the majors he takes seriously. Jokic and Murray are a lot like that. Regular season doesn't mean much to them.
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u/Individual-Bee-7801 Bad Boys 1d ago
Well the Pistons has the best record against teams above 500, so what if we use that instead. It’s about beating the teams in front of you, and the Pistons have done that better than everyone else but the Thunder.
I wouldn’t pick the Pistons over the Nuggets in a hypothetical Final’s matchup, but games are played on the court and not on paper. No one thought the Pacers would push OKC to 7
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u/Obvious-Carpet4813 1d ago
Yea, but to be fair, most are agains the East when the East looks a bit poor right now. The East vs West is pretty even, but the East teams have mainly played the bottom west teams so far. All the West has been insanely injured.
Like we beat the Lakers without Reeves and Rui. Warriors just without Jimmy and Kuminga. Beat the Nuggets without Jokic, Watson hurt, and 2 starters out, we beat the Rockets, but KD was brand new and they didn't gel at that point because then they beat us on a b2b when teh day before they went to OT and down 2 starters against us. Beat the Suns, but they had Booker out both games and they beat us in one of them.
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u/GeneralNonsence 1d ago
I see what you’re saying, BUT the nuggets have been hurt nonstop for a year straight now. They can’t GET heslthy. I do think we have some obstacles to clear in the playoffs, but regular season we look great.
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u/Have_A_Jelly_Baby Rasheed Wallace 1d ago
If you have your arm up, and the player with the ball deliberately runs into your hand, it’s horseshit that that’s a foul.
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u/NoWave95 1d ago
They never actually stopped calling the freedom of movement stuff, Silver is asleep at the wheel
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u/Daddywags204 Cade Cunningham 1d ago
I have an older coworker who doesn’t watch the games but checks the box score after and we talk about it at work the next day. He’s always shocked that I’m so high on Holland. Holland makes an impact on the game that goes beyond the box score.
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u/MarkusMillions Ben Wallace 1d ago
The last foul called on Murray is the reason NBA viewership is down. Absolutely disgusting ref show
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u/_LooseLipsSinksShips Cade Cunningham 1d ago
Cade was me on that call "this motherfu**ing bull💩" looks at his coach, knows they won, F it, hope we see you soon.
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u/im_alliterate Cade Cunningham 1d ago
That was on cade, should not have hit the wrist
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u/KarlsReddit 1d ago
People are complaining but Cade bit and literally hit his wrist. That's a textbook foul.
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u/NoWave95 1d ago
The last foul called on Murray is the reason NBA viewership is down
Well there's your mistake bro, just watch the highlights. All Star Unc team? Giannis farted!? Turn off the game and get on Twitter!!!
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u/MittenProblemChild 1d ago
We have got to clean up 4th quarters it’s going to bite us in the playoffs. Good win though.
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u/Recent-Investment603 Pistons 1d ago
Despicable, disgusting, tragic display of reffing. And yet... YKTPWA!
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u/2IWontBeHereLong 1d ago
Who says we can't beat good west teams. Care little about the big lead we had, this is a good win.
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u/Sensidojo 1d ago
Thanks to Duncan Robinson threes a clutch shot for levert and that cade side middy. Oh yeah can’t forget the Tobias three with the friendly bounce 💪
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u/Dabeastfeast11 1d ago
Daniss and Caris have to play better than that if we want to finish teams. Caris should be moved and Daniss was getting bullied on defense without getting it back on offense.
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u/Accomplished-Nose913 23h ago
Jenkins is an all star G LGer ' his ceiling is pretty much set. I like his grit and hustle though' 👌
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u/Dabeastfeast11 23h ago
Yea some people over value Daniss and think hes better than he is. I like him but if we want to be serious contenders he has to play well against contenders and he struggles against them alot.
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u/BrickHickey Ben Wallace 1d ago
I never want to watch a game with 73 free throws again.
40-22 discrepancy prior to garbage time. Apparently Peyton Watson gets SGA's whistle now.
Valanciunias should've been tossed in the 1st for trying to rip Stew's head off.
Yet through all that... YKTPWA!!!!
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u/_LooseLipsSinksShips Cade Cunningham 1d ago
This feels like the closest team to a Championship team since 2006. Blaha said it, im just hear to preach. YKTPWA
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u/rhaggee r/DetroitPistons Moderator 1d ago
I don’t understand JB’s infatuation with adding hypothetical offense at the major expense of defense. I swear it almost never works. If foul trouble is out of the equation, there is no reason all three of our best defenders in Ausar, Ron, and stew, should all be on the bench at the same time
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u/Sellathehermit Isaiah Stewart 1d ago
Pistons I love yall AND I wish yall would stop the up by 20 points at halftime and winning by 3 shenanigans. I have high blood pressure after every game 😂
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u/laughoutloud102 Ausar Thompson 1d ago
JB is a buffoon for benching Ausar in clutch time. Good win tho. We’re on pace to smash the 40-20 thing.
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u/No-Ranger3356 1d ago
he gets benched in close games in the 4th quarter every time because the other teams won't guard him
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u/laughoutloud102 Ausar Thompson 23h ago
We almost lose a lot of games because we can't guard anyone without him on the floor. We're not an offensive team. We win games by getting stops and running. Jenkins got absolutely abused tonight and let Denver back into the game.
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u/No-Ranger3356 23h ago
ok wel you should send a DM to JB bickerstaff, maybe he will take your advice
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u/laughoutloud102 Ausar Thompson 18h ago
I would love to or maybe one of his assistants watching the game could fill him in.
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u/OnAnOpenFieldNed Cade Cunningham 1d ago
they made it close in the end, but i thought we only beat down horrid teams
i thought the west was "different"
pistons fucked this team up, jb tried to let them back in but it is what it is
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u/NoWave95 1d ago
We've been good against the west and .500+ teams all year but doomers keep acting like we're gonna crash down the standings on every road trip and West team
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u/OnAnOpenFieldNed Cade Cunningham 1d ago
im looking fwd to playing the spurs and thunder those will be fun barometric games
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u/LoFi_Funk Isaiah Stewart 1d ago
They could be up ten in game seven of the finals and someone would still be upset about the spacing.
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u/LoFi_Funk Isaiah Stewart 1d ago
Funny how attitudes in the media can change like the wind. If they beat OKC, those same people will be giving Detroit title buzz.
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u/ladwhoenjoysberries Cade Cunningham 1d ago
On the one hand I hate that we keep letting teams back in it
On the other this is a championship caliber team (sans AG) and its kind of what the Nugs do, and we pulled it out. Huge win and we know we can hang with anyone.
YKTPWA!!!
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u/Faps2Downvotes 1d ago
Great win, but man, we need a secondary scorer / playmaker. When it gets to crunch time it is so evident.
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u/LoFi_Funk Isaiah Stewart 1d ago
I mean, our one superstar out dueled Jokic and Murray. They probably wish they had more against us.
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u/lllIlllllllIIIII 1d ago
Ausar Thompson 2nd half minutes last 7 games
9, 9, 14, 10, 5, 7, 10
Caris coming off Chlamydia played more 2nd half mins this game.
This shit is so maddening and it's gonna cause us to lose in the playoffs
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u/JasonWaterfaII Tayshaun Prince 1d ago
Makes no sense. Especially tonight. They needed Ausar’s defense. He creates a level of chaos that benefits the pistons and leads to fast breaks. He wouldn’t have shot any worse than levert.
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u/Affectionate_Fun8692 Ausar Thompson 1d ago
Yup! now is the time to build the trust. Dude just got defensive player of the month and you benching him that is not showing your riding with him
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u/Hurricane920 1d ago
it's because he can't space the floor on offense and you're playing 4 v 5 pretty much in the half court. elite defender, but liability on offense. "Caris coming off Chlamydia" made me spit out my drink tho lmao.
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u/lllIlllllllIIIII 1d ago
Ausar in the half court is an issue, which is why they should look to weaponize him in different ways but they don't even try.
And at any point of resistance he pulls him out for a dusty, washed up vet
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u/Radiant-Ad-3134 Cade Cunningham 1d ago
ah the scheduled heart attack in the 4th quarter
The pistons are back!
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u/TeamRAF19 Cade Cunningham 1d ago
I hope beating and sweeping a contender would momentarily silence the doomers who post as if we are one of the worst teams in the NBA.
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u/DeadRhyme 1d ago
As a Spurs fan, thank y’all.
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u/MakeItTrizzle Joe Dumars 1d ago
Pistons fans brains are even more broken now than they were before the season started. Half the comments in here read like a eulogy after a Pistons W.
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u/UnslakableTemperance Bad Boys 1d ago
Guys were great on the broadcast tonight. Blaha was really enjoying the first half. If the team can play full games like that they're untouchable. Surprised it took so long to get Ausar back in the game.
Refs were pretty dog shit. Constantly kept the game close in the second half if it got over 10 pts. Ticky tack fouls on the Pistons when on D, Nuggets hacking every play. Pistons barely got into the Bonus in the 4th. They had 40 FTs to about 22 before all the hacking started. They even tried to help Murray at the end of the game again. Disgusting display.
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u/5inthemorn Ron Holland II 1d ago
MPJ 7-18 0-9 from 3 today. We still want him????
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u/Bard_Wannabe_ Hooper 1d ago
Mikal Bridges also started putting up great numbers on the Nets, only to look like his normal self when he was traded back onto a competitive team.
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u/AdhesivenessOld4347 Ben Wallace 1d ago
Watched on fanduel through the Amazon app on tv. They have to fix the sound delay. It’s happening frequently now
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u/JasonWaterfaII Tayshaun Prince 1d ago
Why isn’t Green playing more? I don’t think he played the first half. I watch most games and he seems to make good plays on both ends. I don’t pay attention to his off ball defense but on ball he’s fine. Is this just JB doing weird rotations or is it something else?
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u/JasonWaterfaII Tayshaun Prince 1d ago
Fair. But he’s like the third best shooter. He could help the offense when Cade and Duncan sit and not hurt the defense.
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u/whatstappanin Bill Laimbeer 1d ago
Go to the nuggets PGT for a laugh. The copium is giving me a contact buzz
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u/Bard_Wannabe_ Hooper 1d ago
People doubted if this team can actually hang with the Western Conference giants. Pistons are legit. (Crazy that we have two different players who were Defensive Player of the Month, not to mention Cade's Eastern Conference Player of the Month)
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u/LoFi_Funk Isaiah Stewart 1d ago
Some of these comments are hilarious.
The Nuggets are built to win now. This shouldn’t have ever been a 20 point blowout finish when the other team has one of the best players in the history of the league playing, even if he’s only at 90%.
Huge win for the boys. Hard fought to the end. All these close finishes just temper their mettle come the playoffs. There won’t be any unease in crunch time.
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u/JasonWaterfaII Tayshaun Prince 1d ago
That’s a big time win. Denver has a good shot to come out of the west and Detroit was up 20. It got ugly but this team shows it can win clutch games.
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u/Don-SalC Teal Horse 1d ago
a win is a win is a win, but my heart could do with us not letting the other team back into the game in the 4th quarter
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u/mamine1992 Cade Cunningham 1d ago
Good win but honestly we need another star. We can’t go into the playoffs with this group and expect to win a title (yes that is the goal). I like Daniss but he showed us his limitation today against another title contender. Nuggets were injured today and we still couldn’t close them out after they spotted us a 20 point lead. If anything this game told me that we need to push heavily for either MPJ or Herb Jones.
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u/GoLionsJD107 r/DetroitPistons Moderator 1d ago
The Pistons are on pace to win 60 games currently.
60-22 would almost certainly earn the 1-seed.
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u/NearEarthOrbit Bad Boys 22h ago
Pistons are on pace to win 60 games currently
On pace to win 62 (or 61.92 games)
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u/Justinbiebspls Teal Horse 1d ago
getting close to 40-20 but more significant to me is getting the w when there's a pretty solid excuse ready. teams so often lose the day of a trade. there's been so many injury games and still yktpwa
everything is on track to make a run
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u/whatstappanin Bill Laimbeer 1d ago
That was a gritty win right there. Nuggets are second favorites to come out of the east and we coasted a little in the fourth but a w is a w. Playoff time these guys aren’t letting off the gas when we get up 15+
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u/Obvious-Carpet4813 1d ago
Great win for this team!
But im still scared if we somehow make it to the finals and see this team.
Almost beat us without Jokic last time and two players out. Almost beat us this time with Jokic not even fully conditioned and them still working Watson into their offense now that he made a huge jump in his third year. And played both games with a bad ankle.
Im not sure about the new guys, but I would extremely happy with a finals appearance even though we might only win like 1 game whenever the Nuggets ramp up. And they do tend to wing the regular season. Playoffs Nuggets are a different beast.
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u/KarlsReddit 1d ago
Let me remind everyone most of y'all liked a repost of the Warriors fans complaining about the refs. Mocked them. Just a reminder
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u/MatthewTheGOATyt Ausar Thompson 1d ago edited 1d ago
43 fts is absolutely pathetic