Plummeting Pistons

The Detroit Pistons remain in a battle with the Washington Wizards for the worst record in the NBA with each team posting just nine wins thus far. The Pistons have now lost nine of ten games following a 118-110 loss to the Heat on Tuesday night. Cade Cunningham led the way for the Pistons with 23 points while Simone Fontecchio scored 22 points and Jaden Ivey chipped in with 16 points in the loss.

“We feel like we’re much better than we were earlier in the year. That’s just with continuity,” Pistons coach Monty Williams said. “We feel like the guys we have, as they learn the league and learn how to defend … that’s part of the maturation and process of developing young players.”

The Pistons will now play each of their next six games at home and nine of the next 10 games in front of the home crowd. They are 23rd in the NBA in scoring this season. The Pistons are 18th in field goal shooting and 19th in 3-point shooting. They are also 29th in 3-point field goals made per game. On the defensive end, the Pistons are 27th in the scoring defense. They are 24th in field goal defense and 23rd in 3-point defense. The Pistons are 20th in total rebounds per game. They are just 29th in the NBA in fewest turnovers per game.

Nets Fighting Back

The Brooklyn Nets aren’t ready to go away that easily. The Nets looked to fading in the Eastern Conference Playoff race before consecutive wins against the 10th-place Atlanta Hawks got them back in the hunt. On Tuesday night, the Nets won their third in four games with a 112-107 win over the visiting Philadelphia 76ers. The Nets trailed by double-digits before battling back to pull out the win. Dennis Schroder and Dorian Finney-Smith led the way with 20 points each as the Nets remain 2.5 games behind the Hawks.

“This is our fourth quarter of our season, so we have to challenge each other,” interim coach Kevin Ollie said. “We can’t let any games slip and we’ve got to take care of business.”

The Nets remain in the playoff hunt and will need a strong close over the final 20+ games to earn a spot in the play-in round of the Eastern Conference. The Nets are 24th in the NBA in scoring thus far. They are 27th in field goal percentage and 17th in 3-point field goal percentage. The Nets do shoot a high volume of three-point shots, ranking 7th in 3-point field goals made per game. Defensively, the Nets are 15th in points allowed this season. They are 10 in field goal defense and just 25th in 3-point defense. Brooklyn is 10th in the NBA in total rebounds per game while they are 7th in fewest turnovers per game.

Key Injuries: G Cam Thomas (ankle), F Cameron Johnson (ankle), and PG Ben Simmons are all questionable. Johnson left the Philadelphia game with the ankle injury while Thomas and Simmons both were out.