Another nice little treat of a game.

Sweeping the Hornets in the regular season? Bouncing back following a big loss to Dallas? ME attending two games in short succession and Detroit winning both of them handily? Check 3x

A great team win against a fairly rudderless and difficult-to-watch Charlotte team tonight. Detroit was without Ausar who apparently was puking on the sidelines the game prior but had been doing a pretty solid job of delaying the inevitable Luka Doncic scoring barrage. Last time I mention that shit-show of a game, I promise.

Detroit seems to have a bit of swagger to them as of late. Cade and Ivey are playing better together (Ivey is just playing better, full-stop), Duren and Stewart are doing positive things, and Fontecchio started the game for maybe the first time since becoming a Piston and is quickly turning into one of my favorite players not named Cade Parker Cunningham.

Energy was high on and off the floor, the true sickos joining me tonight were feeling the positive energy created with each additional point stacked onto the lead, and never gave up the faith that Detroit would hold the lead - which they did for nearly the entire game if not the entire game, I simply don’t remember.

Shooting splits for our star players look horrendous, but a lot of those for Cade at least were due to him taking a few end-of-quarter heaves and lobbing up a few grenades tossed to him late in the shot clock. An inefficient (on paper) 22pts coming from 8/20 from the field. I feel like he took only 3 legitimate shots in the second half, but I can’t say how many he made.

A player getting to be a bit more interesting is James Wiseman. Why is it that when you surround younger players with actual NBA veterans, they magically start to play better? I’m convinced Monty and Troy “You’re lucky I don’t beat your ass” Weaver don’t know the answer to that because it took SO long to get a legitimate Udonis Haslem of our own since Rodney McGruder left at the conclusion of last season. Anyway…There were times during the second half when I said to my significant other “they don’t have an answer for James Wiseman right now” and I believe that could possibly be the very first time anyone said that out loud during his NBA career. A monster poster coming off an insanely athletic move in the key earned him a poster dunk that made the arena and the bench explode. Add a few more opportune and difficult shots and Wiseman finished his night with 10 pts, 9 rebounds, 1 block on 4/6 shooting. I hope it keeps going like this because it would be cool to see him actually use that insane unicorn build and athleticism he has for something.

Sasser seems to be catching it again, Grimes made a return from taking a few games off and largely shot like complete garbage, but still played great defense. The biggest takeaway that shouldn’t go unnoticed dis that not a single Pistons player who logged minutes had a negative on the +/- sheet. That shows Monty found some decent balance against this horrific CHA team and that’s even with Amide and Fournier playing some limited minutes.

Overall, I think its really great to see Detroit beating teams they should beat. There’s a game against Toronto which is a bit more of a toss-up, but I feel like Detroit should hopefully ride this momentum and eek out a closer, harder-fought win. Ideally Fontecchio would earn a starting spot over the currently Ill Thompson, because its clear that the spacing he generates thanks to his multi-level scoring ability really helps the entire offense hum, but especially as facilitated through the hands of Cade.

On a complete side-note, I attended my first ever game in the Little Caesar’s arena Motor City. Casino Club seating. Most expensive Piston ticket I’ve ever bought, but for my seat directly at half-court, 9 rows from the floor, with all-you-can eat food and drink + snacks and little goodies, it was a great $130 ticket for both my girlfriend and I. Absolutely zero regrets beyond the fact I won’t be able to sit there every night. If you have the means I highly suggest picking some up.

Lets keep the good vibes going boys. Let’s send those Raptors back to extinction!

You’re probably wondering why I didn’t talk about the Nets game I had been hyping up for about a week. Well you see, I was initially going to set up a joke where I hyped something up and then just didn’t mention it again. That happened but also life happened and I just needed to not post for the past two games because I was busy as shit.