DETROIT — As the Philadelphia 76ers head to the Motor City on Wednesday to take on the Detroit Pistons, the contest is a potential trap game.
On paper, the Pistons are struggling. That’s putting it lightly. They are on a 20-game losing skid, a single-season franchise record, and haven’t won since Oct. 28. They are 27th in offensive rating and 25th in defensive rating.
This is a contest the Sixers should win easily considering the talent and experience they have compared to the Pistons. However, Detroit has professional basketball players who are looking to end this lengthy losing skid. That makes a team dangerous.
“Yes. It can be,” Nic Batum said of the contest with the Pistons. “That’s why we can’t only watch what’s going on on the other side, because it can be a dangerous game playing that way. This is a young team, but they’re not playing bad though. They’re not playing bad.”
Batum is correct. Of the 20 consecutive losses for Detroit, only half of them have been by double digits. The Pistons even held a 16-point lead over the Sixers in a Nov. 10 contest between the teams before Philadelphia rallied and won by eight. That’s something that the Sixers have to guard against.
“They got great players,” Batum added. “They got good vets. They got (Bojan) Bogdanovic back, (Alec) Burks back. They got (Cade) Cunningham playing well, they got the (Ausar) Thompson kid, I mean, I won’t name them all, but they have a good team. So sometimes, you gotta be careful. You don’t want to let your guard down because it can be a big trap game. You can be in trouble if you play that way.”
Considering the talent, it is a bit surprising they haven’t been able to stumble into a win. A 20-game losing streak can be a tough thing to handle.
“Stretch happens sometimes in the NBA so when you’re on a roll like this sometimes, you’re doing good and doing good and sometimes a 5-minute stretch in the game like put you away because it’s bad,” Batum continued. “You kinda understand that, but they got a good coach. I’ve been with Monty Williams for a while. I know him for a while. They’re gonna turn it around. I hope not tonight, but they’re gonna turn it around at some point for sure.”
The Pistons have talented players, but they are a young group. However, they can absolutely sneak up on the Sixers if Philadelphia isn’t careful. The Sixers don’t want to be the team the Pistons end their losing skid against.
“Exactly,” Batum finished. “You don’t want to be that team so they’re going to be extra focused and do our job. We gotta be pros tonight. More pro than them. They’re gonna want it hard. They want to get out of it. We need to want it more tonight than them.”
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