NIGHTMARE: Detroit Pistons’ Offense CRUMBLES Against Victor Wembanyama’s Defensive Masterclass
Detroit Pistons get outmatched as Victor Wembanyama dominates on both ends, snapping their win streak and exposing major questions for their playoff push. Can [Head Coach] J.B. Bickerstaff’s emotional decisions cost Detroit critical games down the stretch?
[Ku Khahil] diagnoses the Pistons’ 114-103 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, spotlighting Cade Cunningham’s rough shooting night (5-of-26), the ripple effect of Wembanyama’s elite defense, and the controversial benching of Ausar Thompson in a pivotal third quarter. Key topics include Detroit’s struggles with shot creation, lack of shooting depth, and the ongoing debate over player rotations. How will Bickerstaff’s handling of rising stars impact the Pistons’ playoff hopes—and could this spark bigger changes ahead?
Don’t miss this candid, passionate breakdown of Detroit’s toughest test yet.
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23 Comments
If everyone stay on their man and let Wemby try to beat us by himself. We had em.
I wonder if Cade's wrist was giving him problems since he hurt it last game
Cade needs to get to his middy against the spurs. The 3 would be great but for him he’s gotta try to shoot over him. Duren pick and roll. Make Wemby decide who to cover. If he slides to take away Cades middy you hit Duren rolling
An excellent game to keep Detroit hungry. They didn’t have Stew but they can still learn from it. Go Pistons!
This game was simple, Wembanyama is like having a rim protector and a weak side rim protector in one because of his length, if you can't shoot lights out from 3 against the Spurs you won't win and we can't shoot so..
This game will be overblown, spurs shoot 45% from 3 and we shoot 19%. The disparity is not sustainable for any team.
What went wrong was they had to play the Spurs. hahaha
Good point on Ausar. It’s wild how long of a leash JB will give Caris and then is so quick to bench Ausar. Caris half the time is just out there chucking up horrible shot attempts and playing like he doesn’t even care and JB doesn’t care. JB is too in his feelings.
Pistons were allowed to aggressively foul all night… still lost. EXPOSED
Ku, I love your work but can we not with the click bait. It's not a NIGHTMARE to lose a regular season game when you have a 6-game lead on the 2-seed
Its simple let Wemby get his and shut everyone else down!
Yeah so I didn’t think this was bad. We didn’t hit a couple of our shots, we missed some bunnies that looked good and didn’t fall and the ball was literally bouncing their way. We seen we can go directly at Wemby later in but it was too late.Spurs got some uncontested layups ( never seen that before in Detroit)Will be ready next time we see them.
JB gonna be a problem to deal with,, his rotations come playoff time gonna be TRASH…
Wemby is similar to Cade he doesn't have to score to impact the game his presence alone in a paint Pistons was so focused on him that they forgot the guard to three-point line
Cade should've leaned on his mid range game
His 3pt shooting is unreliable. He struggles near the hoop when there's a rim protector
Castle is a great defender too – he was bothering Cade
We've seen a lot of star players face San Antonio this year and have 'bad shooting nights'.
Strangely enough, this podcast gives a bit too much credit to Wemby (and he deserves a lot) when Stephon Castle was the driving factor behind Cade's offensive struggles.
Thanks for that Ausar/JB context. I didn’t know that. It’s crazy, I know he doesn’t stretch the floor but that boy with all his flaws is a WINNING PLAYER. Surely film study shows that! Ausar seems like a respectful dude.. if he is reacting to something it’s likely that there is a reason. Not blaming JB either he’s an emotional coach but it seems he accountable for this one cos of his pride. Also no way we trading Ausar! Pistons get a new arena before that happens
It’s one game – there is one coach. JB is right to bench a player out of principle. Millennials don’t know shit
One thing that sadly comes to me is the pistons still struggle to win these “playoff games” at HOME
I'm afraid that ausar is thinking about Houston right now
I love Ausar and glad he is a Piston. Him getting benched while watching Wemby dominate was like pouring salt in my wound of the grave disappointment of not getting the No 1 pick in the 2023 lottery.
What you describe at the beginning about Wemby's defense, he does that every game indeed. His block numbers are down this season, and that's not because he regressed. It's because opposing teams outright refuse to penetrate against him anymore. More and more games like that.
If your offensive strategy is based on penetrating, you're fucked. Just like OKC.
As a Spurs fan, I admire a coach who will bench a player at any point for disrespectful and immature behaviour. That's not acceptable at any time or against any opponent. Coach Pop did it all of the time. This is how you develop young players; with accountability.