The Detroit Pistons won 60 games this season, finishing as the first seed in the East. Their defense ranked second in the league, just behind the Oklahoma City Thunder. None of that mattered through the four games they’ve played against the Orlando Magic. The 8-seed Magic have a 3-1 series lead, with Detroit on the brink of losing it all on Wednesday.
Reactions in the NBA World have started to pile up, and one of the loudest came from the 2018 NBA champion, Nick Young (Swaggy P), who tore the Pistons roster apart.
Swaggy P (Nick Young) Questions Detroit Pistons’ Defense Strategy Amid Playoff Losses
GSW 2018 NBA Champion Nick Young took aim at Detroit’s identity, questioning whether defense alone can really help them survive the playoffs.
“I think we gotta put to rest that ‘defense wins championship’ sh*t,” Young said. “That’s all we hear, defense… Pistons got defense, but now, they’ve got nobody to put the ball in the hole. Nobody to score.”
Young pointed to the current playoff stage as the difference-maker, without sparing the Pistons’ roster.
“What happened to all that defense defense shit? They’re No. 1. Regular season, you play hard, some people play 82 games hard, every game. In playoffs, that sh*t shows. If you can’t score, you can’t score; that sh*t will show in the playoffs. That damn rah rah, Isaiah Stewart sh*t, Jalen Duren, he got no moves. Nobody could put the ball in the hole. And you just play defense, you’re not gonna score. You just gonna be out there guarding.”
He continued his point by shifting the narrative across Orlando. “Orlando got offensive players. They got a better team. They got Paolo, Wagner… They (Pistons) got none of that, the Pistons… they got one player, Cunningham. He can’t do everything.”
The numbers from Game 4 backed Swaggy P’s framing. The Pistons went 31-for-82 (37.8%) from the field and 6-for-30 (20%) from 3-point range in Game 4, when they lost 94-88 to the Magic.
In the same game, Orlando shot worse. They went 32.6% from the field and 25.7% from the three-point range. Yet they won. The Magic forced 20 Pistons turnovers and converted them into 23 points.
Even as Cade Cunningham finished the game with 25 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 8 turnovers on 7-of-23 shooting, he could not help the Detroit cause. Pistons weren’t able to string together any real offense. They could not find a spark off the bench to assist their starters, with Isaiah Stewart providing just eight points in relief.
Now, the Pistons need three straight to extend this season. One piece of history actually works in their favor. Only six No. 8 seeds have eliminated the first seed in a playoff series in the league’s history.
And this has only happened four times since the post-season format was changed to a best-of-seven games for all rounds in 2003. It was the 2007 Warriors, the 2011 Grizzlies, the 2012 76ers, and the 2023 Heat.
The team will now have to put in a lot of effort to gain momentum, as their leader, Cunningham, speaks as loudly as Young.
“The way we’ve been playing, that stuff’s not good enough to win games,” Cunningham said. “They’re outrebounding us, turning me over. We haven’t hit enough shots, our defense hasn’t caught its foot. So, it’s not shocking we’re losing games playing like that.”
Game 5 tips Wednesday night at Little Caesars Arena.
