How long can the Pistons maintain their No. 1 spot?

After the first 11 games, the Pistons had a record of 9 wins and 2 losses. After losing to the Eastern Conference leading Cavaliers at home last season, they had the longest seven-game winning streak in the league.

Among the opponents with seven consecutive victories, the first five games were all teams with a winning rate of less than 50%, and there were no back-to-back schedules. The gold content was indeed a bit watery.

But having said that, being able to win steadily against weaker teams is exactly what a playoff team should do. Now the Pistons are temporarily ranked first in the Eastern Conference. The last time their season record was at this level was more than 20 years ago.

Looking at the Pistons this season, the success lies in doing everything they should do. Their biggest selling point is that they have a group of young combatants, who perfectly display the characteristics of young people who can run fast, jump high, and are not afraid of confrontation.

Looking at it now, this new Pistons is indeed more and more like a group of track and field jumping men on the Denver Plateau.

With the full-court pressure led by Osar and Holland, and the inside confrontation of Duren, Stewart, and Paul Reed, the Pistons ranked among the best in the league in many defensive statistics. The running confrontation throughout the game allowed the team to quickly accumulate fouls and allow the opponent to get too many free throws. However, if the standards of the game were looser, the Pistons would be able to gain a lot of advantages.

Although the offensive part lacks the outside output of shooter Beasley, it will make up for it in the new season with a large number of attacks on the inside. In the new season, the Pistons rank among the top three in the league in terms of the number of shots near the frame and the number of shots near the frame. Although the offensive efficiency is not a highlight, it is still able to maintain a qualified level.

Among them, Durun, the inside gatekeeper, can be called the number one contributor. Judging from this season, this young man has become the league's top offensive rebounding machine. Looking at the entire league, the only two players who can completely surpass Duren in offensive rebounds are Rockets Adams and Nick Miró.

But compared to these two seniors, Duren's offense is obviously much more comprehensive. In addition to the best pick-and-cut and inside finishing, last season he developed the starting point of the offensive hand in the high area. This season, he has added the elbow area to break through with the ball, and even has the occasional mid-range shooting highlight.

As an inside finisher with strong physical condition, he has excellent catching and finishing abilities and a soft shooting touch. So far, the Pistons have averaged 6.6 free throws per game, and their free throw shooting rate exceeds an excellent level of 80%. In addition to offense, the continued improvement of defense has also greatly improved the Pistons' rim protection efficiency.

In addition to Duren's significant growth in the penalty area, the two bouncers on the wings have also continued to improve this season. Holland, who played 81 intense games in his rookie year, has made significant progress in shooting after training in the offseason. His 23% three-point shooting rate in his rookie year has reached the 30% level so far.

Although it is not perfect, it is worth accepting. But with threats from the outside, we will naturally get more opportunities to attack with the ball in the new season.

But from the current point of view, Holland's ball-holding offense is not really up to standard, and he is often whistled for walking. Even after successfully entering the penalty area, the lack of footwork changes and confrontation advantages also makes Holland's finishing efficiency quite poor. But even so, the head coach still encouraged Holland to stay aggressive, and asked him to take decisive action when he hesitated on the offensive end. Even if the end of the penalty area does not look good, we will continue to support and maintain our physical advantage to the greatest extent.

As for the other more talented Osar, he was also given enough opportunities to make mistakes on the court. In addition to trying different ball-handling roles, he was also strongly encouraged to take mid-range shots and even some slightly weird throws with his non-dominant hand.

This duo brought a sense of pressure on the wing defense that far exceeded last season. They relied on their physical advantage to seize the ball many times during the battle, and finally converted it into points. Although there is still room for improvement in efficiency, after the two started shooting, the Pistons at least dared to let the two play together. Their skills were slightly lacking, but their physical advantages were enough to crush them.

In the current environment where the NBA attaches great importance to offensive and defensive transitions and offensive space, proactively increasing defensive transitions, making fewer mistakes during fast breaks, and allowing young players to decisively execute some simple tactics are also quite suitable for this type of young team.

Especially in the regular season, the teams are highly consumed and the various devilish schedules require very high physical conditions. Judging from the young people of the Pistons, they were able to maximize the team's characteristics and achieved quite good results.

In short, the Pistons' approach is very simple. Let the strong men in the penalty area rush for offensive rebounds. The young wings run with all their strength, and leave it to LeVert, Dunro and others from the outside to take over and fire. Even if the tactics fail, they can return the ball to Cunningham to forcefully handle it.

This is the core man who is difficult to get around when it comes to the Pistons, Cade Cunningham.

Cunningham, who was previously criticized for his obvious offensive battery life issues, has clearly begun to change this season. He began to selectively focus on linking the team's offense in the first half, conserving his energy until the second half before fully taking over the offense.

Judging from last season, Cunningham's hand control on the weak side is still slightly lacking. Most of them choose to turn around and stop the ball to find teammates after breaking through from the left. It is also easy for defenders to catch the rhythm. However, the confrontation after gaining weight this season has been significantly strengthened. Even if he runs into the opponent's double-team trap, he can keep the ball. Instead, he can use the opponent to shrink the defense line to create more peripheral opportunities.

It's just that for the current Pistons, they lack a stable second ball-handler besides Cunningham. After Harris was injured, Cunningham's offensive responsibilities were obviously heavier. Referring to today's game where he scored 2 points to narrowly defeat the Wizards, Cunningham made 14 of 45 shots from the field and scored 46 points, which is enough to show his offensive load on the team.

As a dark horse that reached sixth place in the Eastern Conference last season, many fans are worried that it will just be a flash in the pan.. But now that the first 11 games have been played, although the overall strength of the opponent is weak and the schedule is relatively easy, Pistons fans can undoubtedly be excited to have a great start.

Judging from the record, the Pistons' lower limit has been significantly improved in the new season, and in these 11 games, the key to their biggest qualitative change lies in defense.

The Pistons let shooter Dun Luo, who has obvious defensive shortcomings, average 32.5 minutes per game and a total of 350 minutes, which is currently the second most in the team. However, even with the defensive shortcomings, the Pistons can still maintain a top-three defensive efficiency in the league.

In addition, the Pistons are also facing some injury problems. Ivey and Sasser, who were originally expected to be able to take up the backcourt rotation, have not yet played. Harris and LeVert in the frontcourt are both absent. Stewart, who is in the inside penalty area, also needs to rest due to an ankle injury.

Faced with these surprises, the Pistons spent a lot of time on players who were on the fringe of the rotation or even outside the rotation plan, such as Javonte Green, Paul Reed, two-way contract guard Dennis Jenkins, second-round picks Lanier, Clintman and others. This group of players at the back of the rotation basically did their job well in the limited playing time.

This season, the West is strong and the East is weak. From the perspective of team net efficiency, the top four Thunder, Nuggets, Rockets, and Spurs are all Western teams, but from fifth to tenth they are all Eastern teams, and the Pistons currently rank fifth.

If you want to be sure that the Pistons can maintain their first place in the Eastern Conference for a whole season, this expectation may be too optimistic. After the intensity of the subsequent schedule increases, the record will inevitably decline. But if the above advantages can be maintained and the lineup is complete, this dark horse last season will still have a chance to hit the top half.

So here’s the question. From a fan’s perspective, how long do you think the Pistons can sit on the top spot in the Eastern Conference?