The Detroit Pistons get the Philadelphia 76ers tonight in a matchup that looks familiar on paper but won’t feel much like the first meeting. Both teams are near the top of the Eastern Conference, with the 76ers at 7-1 and the Pistons right behind at 6-1, and both have gotten there while navigating early injuries.
That first game was a 106-93 Pistons win, but the lineup picture has shifted on both sides. Detroit was without Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson, while Philadelphia missed Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe. The Pistons also lost sharpshooter Isaiah Joe just four minutes into that game, and they’ll still be without him and Duren tonight.
The biggest change is on the Philadelphia side, where Embiid and Edgecombe are back. That puts pressure on the Pistons’ frontcourt of Paul Reed and John Collins, especially with Embiid involved. Detroit’s answer has to be effort and pace: make Embiid work, run the floor hard, and keep moving on offense so he’s forced to defend.
The Pistons should also keep putting Embiid into pick-and-roll action and make him cover the perimeter, an area where he struggles more now that his mobility is limited.
There’s another wrinkle for Philadelphia this time. The 76ers didn’t have to deal with Ausar Thompson in the first meeting, and that gives Detroit another option to throw at Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown.
Even with the new personnel on both sides, the Pistons look better positioned for the changes. They’re the deeper team, and that matters when the game starts to drag into the bench.
Philadelphia needs Embiid healthy because it doesn’t really have another true center option. Detroit, by contrast, doesn’t lose much with Paul Reed on the floor. The same goes for Isaiah Joe, since the Pistons have kept winning without him and he hadn’t really gotten going yet.
If Detroit can force Embiid into foul trouble or simply wear him down enough to get into the Philly bench for extended minutes, that edge could show up again. It’s the kind of issue Philadelphia is going to have to manage all season, which is why the team has been very careful with both LeBron and Embiid so far.
In Other News...
Pistons May Be Near One Costly Decision On Their Title Push
The Knicks aggressive move for Mikal Bridges is a reminder of how quickly a contender can change its ceiling when it is willing to pay a steep price. For the Pistons, that kind of example matters now more than ever, because Detroit is no longer in the stage of simply collecting young talent and waiting for it to bloom. The front office has to think about how to turn a promising core into a team that can actually survive the postseason grind.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker has emerged as the sort of target that can tempt a team into making that leap, thanks to his performance and the way he could fit alongside Detroits roster. But the same kind of deal that can accelerate a title push can also leave a franchise thin on future flexibility, and that is the tension hanging over any discussion of a move like this. For now, it is only a possibility, but it is the sort of possibility that forces a serious team to weigh urgency against cost. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons Fans Have A New Reason To Revisit That Embiid Ending
The Pistons left Philadelphia with a 112-106 loss, but the final minutes offered plenty for Detroit fans to replay. Joel Embiid was assessed a flagrant foul penalty 1 after kicking Cade Cunningham in the groin, and the sequence also brought a technical foul for shoving another player, turning an already physical game into one that ended with plenty of frustration on the Detroit side.
Embiid still filled the box score in a big way, finishing with 26 points and 15 rebounds in a double-double that added another line to his long list of dominant nights. It was his 61st game with at least 25 points and 15 rebounds, the second-most in 76ers history, but for Pistons fans the lasting memory from this one is likely to be the confrontation, not the production. [Read more 🡒]
Ausar Thompson Is Giving The Pistons A New Reason For Optimism
The Pistons came up short in a tight loss to the 76ers, but Ausar Thompson gave them something to take from the night beyond the final score. He was more aggressive than usual, putting up a season high in field goal attempts while contributing in points, rebounds, assists and steals, a reminder that his impact is starting to stretch beyond the defensive end.
What stood out most was the way Thompson kept pressing offensively while still looking efficient doing it, including better work at the free throw line. For a Detroit team that has already shown it can compete early, that kind of growth from Thompson gives the Pistons another reason to believe his role can keep expanding even as he continues to work through the usual growing pains. [Read more 🡒]