Detroit Pistons: 3 takeaways from their double-digit win in Boston
2. Detroit is dangerous on the road
Detroit is a good team at home at 7-2, but they’ve also been good on the road. Away from the distractions of home, the Pistons have taken on a Detroit vs. Everybody mentality.
Before the start of the season, the Pistons had a team-only meeting to discuss their team goals for the season. Anthony Tolliver shared some of the highlights from the meeting before the season started, per NBA.com:
"“I told everybody there, ‘We can be one of the teams that shocks the NBA. There’s always a team that steps up and does something beyond what they look like on paper. There’s no reason why that can’t be us this year.”"
The Detroit Pistons have indeed become road warriors. The key to that lies in being able to rely on each other while embracing the us against the world mentality. Tobias Harris also spoke about the team coming together as a cohesive unit during the meeting in Las Vegas:
"“We talked with each other and we’re going to continue to do so throughout the season. Everybody is on a really good level of how it needs to happen,” Harris said. “Our biggest thing is going to be our mentality. If things don’t go right, we can’t negate anybody. We have to stay strong through the whole season.”"
Instead of relying on and expecting one person to do it all every night, Detroit is playing looser as a unit without any individual expectations.
Some nights it’s the bench that steps up and helps get the Pistons over the hump. On the road in Oklahoma City, the play and scoring from the bench helped the Pistons close out the Thunder.
Monday night’s win against the Celtics starters like Harris and Andre Drummond led the Pistons in all categories to secure the victory on the road in Boston.
Andre Drummond had 26 pts on 10-12 shooting (83%), 22 reb, & 6 ast in @DetroitPistons win at Boston. The last player with at least 25 pts, 20 reb, & 5 ast while also shooting 80% or better from the field? Charles Barkley in 1988. More from @EliasSports at https://t.co/6h9B1709cq pic.twitter.com/9GrJkI10C8
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 28, 2017
The Pistons’ road resume can’t be denied. They have defeated the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Thunder, Timberwolves and Celtics on the road, and are now 6-4 away from Little Caesars Arena.
The road win against the Thunder is their only win by less than four points.
The Pistons have beaten the Warriors, the Thunder, the Celtics and a healthy LAC squad on the road. Time to buy in.
— Duncan Smith (@DuncanSmithNBA) November 28, 2017
You could play devil’s advocate and say teams were looking past the Pistons. That might’ve been the case with early wins against Golden State and the Clippers. However, the theory doesn’t hold true with recent wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics were impressed. Al Horford of the Boston Celtics talked about how methodical Andre Drummond was. It’s the type of focus that even some elite players aren’t able to manage on the road.
"“[Drummond] was very focused,” Celtics center Al Horford said. “They have him playing a lot more out of the elbow instead of the post. And he hit some tough shots down the stretch. “Man, I was all over him on defense and he hit some tough ones. Those are the ones you shake his hand and say it’s your night tonight. We’ll see them again in a couple of weeks.”"
The top two teams in the East will meet at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Dec. 10.