Whatever good vibes the Pistons established in Toronto were extinguished in one quarter at home. Detroit played its worst game of the season coming off its best, falling behind the Kings 31-12 after the first quarter in a wire-to-wire blowout Monday night to open a five-game homestand. Blowouts are becoming a theme for a team that was known for its fight last season.
"I take the blame for it," said Dwane Casey. "I didn't get the guys ready coming off of a big win. We talked about being professionals, but didn't get it done enough. There's no excuses. Every team in this league is coming in with a gun locked and loaded ready to go after you. By the time we woke up, the game was over."
The Pistons heard boos in the first quarter, which included a 24-2 run by a Kings team that entered the game on a four-game skid and ended with Detroit missing 18 of its final 19 shots from the field. The Pistons' youth shined in Toronto, but it fizzled Friday in Cleveland and again on Monday. With four players under the age of 23 in the starting five, the growing pains are obvious.
"It's the byproduct of a young team that has to understand, no matter how well you played last game, there's a new gunslinger coming after you the next game. And until we learn that, it's going to repeat itself," Casey said. "We're not as bad we played tonight and we're not as good as we played in Toronto. It's somewhere in between."
If there was a positive Monday, Cade Cunningham scored a career-high 25 points, including 5-11 from three, to go with eight boards and eight assists. He passed LeBron James as the youngest player in NBA history to record 25-8-8 and five three-pointers in a game. The next two youngest: Trae Young and Luka Doncic.
Not that it was any consolation for Cunningham after another 20-point loss.
"I'm super competitive, the whole team is super competitive. So sitting on the bench or just being in the game whenever you let it get away from you that much, it sucks every time. At the same time, you have to stay levelheaded. You can't beat yourself up over that or dwell on it the next day, the next game.
"We're young. We're trying to figure out the league, and the league's not going anywhere."
After missing training camp and the first four games of the season with an ankle injury, Cunningham did say he's gaining confidence as "the head of this offense." He's scored in double digits in five of the past six games and he's starting to find his mark from three.
"Getting more and more comfortable with our system and who we are," he said. "Now it's just time to grow and get better with it. The Toronto game we had pretty good flow on offense. Now it's just about being consistent. I've learned so much about me as a person and a player since I got to the NBA that it's promising for me, at least, to stay confident and believe in myself for the future."
As for the team, the immediate future looks grim on nights like Monday. The Pistons have lost four of their last eight games by at least 20 points. That can't continue, no matter how young they may be.
"We gotta be ready when the referee throws up the first jump ball," said Casey. "We can't ease our way in. That's my message until I don't have a message. It's so much like the Cleveland game. We played so bad that game and we had a bounce-back (the next). It's going to teach us again how to bounce back from adversity."
