Photo by Chris Schwegler/NBAE via Getty Images This was the most embarrassing loss the Detroit Pistons have had so far this season. Pregame thoughts: After their best win of the season last night against Indiana, the Detroit Pistons looked to repeat that performance against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Pistons are playing in their league-leading 22nd game, while it’s only Philly’s 18th game of the season - Detroit is on another stretch of three games in four nights. Cade Cunningham was a late scratch on the second night of a back-to-back, and the 76ers were without Joel Embiid, Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, and Reggie Jackson. Maybe Detroit is saving Cunningham for their Tuesday night NBA Cup game against Milwaukee with a trip to Vegas on the line? Postgame thoughts: The Pistons lose 111-96 in the most embarrassing fashion of the season. The team was either dead tired, didn’t care an ounce about putting forth effort, or both. Sigh. First Quarter Jaden Ivey was your starting PG again as Malik Beasley started at SG along with the rest of your usual starters. Andre Drummond rolled his ankle early on Tobi’s foot, leaving Philly without two centers and having to play third-string rookie Adem Bona. The Sixers didn’t seem to mind as they started the game on a 20-7 run, including shooting 4-for-6 from deep, before JBB Bickerstaff called his first timeout. The Pistons obviously missed Cade’s offensive creation, as they couldn’t get anything going. Their energy looked flat, and Detroit didn’t seem interested in defending or rebounding. Philly led 37-20 at the end of the first as eight 76ers scored on their way to shooting 56% from the field and 56% from three. Jaden Ivey was the only Piston with more than three points, and he led with seven points, including one three. To sum up, JB Bickerstaff played all 12 available Pistons in the first quarter—he was looking for anyone who wanted to play ball tonight. Second Quarter BBall Paul was one of the only Pistons interested in playing - he showed energy on both ends with a block on defense and two consecutive sashays in the lane to force a Philly timeout as they led 41-29. Ausar Thompson also showed flashes of his old self - JBB even had him playing center for a short stint. After hitting a three in the first and having two weak side blocks at the rim, he also had a nice transition and-one layup to bring the deficit to 10. Ausar flew for this block pic.twitter.com/bPKFY2GSpR— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) December 1, 2024 Back-to-back threes by Marcus Sasser and Malik Beasley woke the crowd up as there was finally some momentum on Detroit’s side when Philly called a timeout with two minutes left in the half. After being down 18 at the beginning of the quarter, the Pistons got the Philly lead down to seven. Malik Beasley hit a logo three heat check before heading to halftime, where Philly led 57-52. After a very depressing first quarter, the Pistons outscored Philadelphia by 12 in the second. Malik THREESLEY from deep 14 PTS | 4-5 3PT in the first half pic.twitter.com/fA4UishkY2— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) December 1, 2024 The Sixers shot 48% from the field and 50% from deep in the first half. Detroit was slightly behind after shooting 43%, but guards Malik Beasley and Jaden Ivey combined to shoot 6-for-9 from deep. Ausar Thompson had seven points on four shots and he was making an impact on both ends of the floor. Third Quarter Philadelphia opened the second half on a 14-3 run behind a quick ten points from Tyrese Maxey as, again, nobody seemed interested in playing defense or rebounding. JBB called a timeout not even three minutes into the third as he tried to find someone to light a spark in this starting lineup without Cade. JBB subbed out Jalen Duren way too late as the clock hit the halfway point in the third - he closed out on a KJ Martin corner three like he had concrete in his shoes, then followed that up by trying a sashay in the lane that ended up with him losing the ball to the third row. Guess what? You grabbed as many rebounds as Jalen Duren did tonight! Everything terrible that happened in the first quarter happened in the third - their effort was embarrassing, and Philly was clearly more ready and willing to play. The Sixers extended their lead by outscoring Detroit by 15 in the quarter - Philly led 89-69. Fourth Quarter It was such a blowout that FanDuel Sports Network started giving shoutouts to their cameramen and production crew with three minutes left in the game—what else were they supposed to talk about? Nothing else eventful happened in the fourth, so - Philly won 111-96. Time to rant. That was the most embarrassing performance I’ve seen yet out of this Pistons team in the JBB Era. It couldn’t be more clear that they were willing to punt this Philly game as the entire team was already looking ahead to Tuesday’s NBA Cup game against the Bucks. They should’ve just quit when it was 20-7 halfway through the first quarter to give the fanbase two hours of their lives back. Back in my teaching days, I coached high school basketball, and we used to tell the kids, “We have to be the best team in the district at the things we can control—we can control our energy and we can control our effort.” Detroit had the opportunity to bring energy and effort to tonight’s game, but apparently, it wasn’t worth it. THJ? 0-for-6. Tobias Harris? 1-for-8. Jaden Ivey? 5-for-16. Simone Fontecchio? 2-for-12. Jalen Duren? He played a whopping 13 minutes, while Isaiah Stewart played 15 and Paul Reed played 14. He was -27 in those 13 minutes, turned it over four times, and (again) DIDN’T GRAB A SINGLE REBOUND. The entire team was bad, but this was one of the worst games I’ve ever seen Duren play - he should’ve just stayed home if that’s the kind of effort he will give on the floor. I sure as hell hope tonight’s team doesn’t show up on Tuesday night against Milwaukee. JBB needs to use this tape as a learning moment and make sure the team brings twice the energy since they used none of it tonight. I have to end on a positive, so let’s end on this: Ausar Thompson is continuing to do more and more Ausar-like things as he sees more minutes. He saw minutes at the center position and brought the ball up the floor as the main creator for the bench unit. I am fully on board with not signing a backup PG if it means Ausar gets those on-ball creation duties. Push his development to the max and turn this guy into the ultimate Swiss army knife we know he can be.