March 12, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Paul Reed (7) blocks a shot by Philadelphia 76ers forward Justin Edwards (11) in the second half at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Lon Horwedel-Imagn Image The Detroit Pistons will move from one injury-plagued opponent to another when they host the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.
Detroit outscored a depleted Philadelphia 131-109 on Thursday. The Pistons had seven players score in double figures, and none of them were Cade Cunningham. And they never trailed against a Sixers club missing seven players.
The Grizzlies have been dealing with so many injuries that they signed Tyler Burton from the roster of their G League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle, on a 10-day hardship contract on Thursday.
The Pistons led Philadelphia by double digits for most of the game, but the Sixers pulled within four figures late in the first half.
“For the most part, I think we did what we wanted to do in the game,” Detroit coach JB Bickerstaff said. “Paying attention to detail and talking about our system and all that stuff. Again, defensively, I didn’t think we were great in the second quarter, but I think we did the job the rest of the way. Offensively, even in the second quarter, I think we turned it over too many times to give them a chance. But overall, I think we did a really good job tonight.”
Duncan Robinson scored a team-high 19 points as the Pistons recorded their second straight win after a four-game slide.
“We’re a little more intentional about playing the way we want to play on both sides of the ball,” Robinson said. “Obviously there were some slippages there, (but) the goal is to learn from it. Getting over it is very important because you can gain something from it. Unfortunately, a lot of times the most valuable lessons come from defeat.”
Cunningham, an All-Star and potential MVP candidate, made just six shots while scoring eight points. He was content as a distributor, dishing out 13 assists in over 28 minutes.
Memphis had just eight players available as it snapped a six-game losing streak with a 120-112 home loss to Dallas on Thursday. The Grizzlies were closely followed by Jaylen Wells, who had 23 points, and GG Jackson, who had 20 points.
“It definitely affects how much work each player does, but it doesn’t lower expectations,” coach Tuomas Iisalo said of the lackluster performance.
“If you think about fatigue overall, it’s more than just one game. It’s the fatigue that builds up from game to game. That’s definitely the biggest challenge for us during this period – four games in five nights and there’s travel in between as well. It’s definitely a brutal stretch, trying to find a very good balance with preparation, not trying to do too much and still trying to prepare as best as we can.”
Burton played 29 minutes but made just one of nine field goal attempts.
“We’ve already seen Tyler play in summer league,” Iisalo said. “He made such a good impression that he was one of our E-10s (Exhibit 10 contract players) heading to training camp and did well there as well. As someone who had the fundamentals in place after playing Hustle, it was a no-brainer.”
The Grizzlies had won nine straight against the Pistons heading into their first meeting this season. Detroit won 114-106 on the road on Nov. 3 behind Cunningham’s 33 points and eight assists.
–Field level media
