It’s been 10 years since the Detroit Pistons have had a start as good as this. After a 110-103 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night, it pushed the Pistons’ record to 4-0. The team is happy, but understand that bigger hurdles are to come.
Their first big tests of the season come in their next two games Saturday and Tuesday, against the Boston Celtics. Don’t take this to mean that they’re discounting their hot start, but the Pistons definitely realize that three of their wins are over teams with a combined 3-10 record.
“It’s good for our morale, but we know that there’s bigger mountains to climb, just got to continue to work and improve in certain areas,” coach Dwane Casey said following Thursday’s 110-103 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Little Caesars Arena. “It takes one step ahead, two steps back, but I see it coming. Our guys are excited. They know we can be better than how we’ve played in certain situations.”
They’re now one of only four unbeaten teams in the NBA. (Detroit, Toronto, New Orleans, and Milwaukee) Part of that success comes with the red-hot start of the high-scoring Blake Griffin.
Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin controlled the paint as they combined for 52 PTS and 32 REB to improve the Detroit Pistons record to 4-0. 💪
Who's your favourite big-man pairing in the league? pic.twitter.com/W8dR80H503
— NBA UK (@NBAUK) October 26, 2018
In their win Thursday night, Griffin put up 26 points with 10 rebounds. His 137 points on the season now are the most by any Piston in the opening four games of a season, previously held by Grant Hill in the 1998-99 season. He’s also the first Piston to have 25 or more points and eight or more rebounds in the first four games of the season. Regardless, he still knows the Pistons need to be ready.
“Being 4-0 is a lot better than being 2-2 or whatever it could be,” Griffin said. “At the end of the day we’ll take the win, but we got to keep improving. I don’t think 4-0 is something to be satisfied with, because that’s just the NBA.”
Andre Drummond had his second 20-20 game this year, 22nd of his career, and echoes the team’s sentiment.
“We can’t get too excited, it’s still early,” Drummond said. “We have to take them win by win, game by game, and just keep getting better.”
The night wasn’t without a little tragedy, though. Luke Kennard suffered a shoulder injury and exited the game. He’s scheduled to have an MRI done today to see the extent of the damage.
