Copyright M Live Michigan
DETROIT — Through four games of the 2025-26 season, the Detroit Pistons have trailed at the end of the first quarter every night. The Pistons (2-2) are still trying to get back into the swing of performing like the same team that tripled their win total from one season to the next and made it to the playoffs. Even though the Pistons have changed a handful of guard pieces, the core of the team is the same and coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s culture of intensity and grit on both ends of the court is what Detroit will count on for the season. They’ve shown that plenty so far, but slow starts have hit them every time and required some make-up work later on. Following the Pistons 116-95 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers where they scored just 41 points in the first half, the team is depending on more time together on the court to get right. “We’re learning the triggers, how we create rotations, put advantage situations and all those things,” Bickerstaff said. “So it’ll smooth out. It’s been choppy at times, for sure. You’re not seeing that wrong. Just more time together, more reps at it. “But this is the thing we always try to do, is we’re trying to make this our climb. We’ve got a starting point that we’re at right now, and then we’ll continue to figure it out and get better.” It’s stark how different the Pistons are as a first-quarter team compared to the rest of the game. Detroit is scoring 24.8 points in first quarters, which is 29th in the NBA, while posting 28.5 points in the second (19th), 28.3 in the third (19th) and 28.5 in the fourth (12th) quarter. And the Pistons’ defense suffers just as well, allowing teams to score 33.5 points per game in the first quarter (26th), while giving up just 26.8 (10th) in the second, 27.5 (8th) in the third and 26 (7th) in the fourth quarter. Their average first-quarter margin of -8.8 is the fifth-worst margin of any NBA team during any quarter this season. The Pistons missing 19 straight shots against the Cavaliers from the first to second quarter was certainly the anomaly that set off Monday’s loss, but Detroit players haven’t seen a common theme in why the first quarter keeps going against them. “I don’t know if it’s one thing. Different games it’s been different things,” guard Duncan Robinson said after Monday’s loss. “I actually thought we started all right tonight, but they kind of jumped on us there in that late-first, second quarter as well. It’s just going to be about continuing to do things to our identity, do those better first.” Bickerstaff hasn’t indicated interest in changing up too much. He’s a believer in consistency, especially this early on in the season. The members of the staring five — Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris and Robinson — have all contributed in crucial moments. But it’s worth noting that the group has an offensive rating of 92 with a 47.2 effective field goal percentage on the court together. It’s a small sample size and they’re going up against their opponent’s first five, but there’s clearly been some growing pains for the five. While the Pistons continue to feel out the new members of their roster and hope to return some crucial guard depth in Jaden Ivey, Caris LeVert and Marcus Sasser over the coming weeks, the Pistons are still not in some sort of precarious spot. They’re 2-2 with a road win against a Houston Rockets team that is expected to make plenty of noise this season. A year ago Bickerstaff’s tenure began with four straight losses to begin the season where the Pistons led after the first quarter three times and proceeded to lose every game. For now the Pistons are going to lean into their culture and identity, the same way they earned their first two wins of the season. “You’ve got to be solution oriented,” Robinson said. “You got to have direct conversations and you can’t have people — I’m not saying that we do — but you can’t have people muttering under their breath, ‘We should have done this, that’. But instead it’s the accountability of guys on the floor to figure it out. We’ll get it right."
