Post-Game Thread: Detroit Pistons (59-22) defeat Charlotte Hornets (43-38), 118-100 | NBA | Apr 10, 2026
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Ngl forgot there was some rivalry hornets fans imagined up just thought this was a throwaway game against a lottery team lol forgot this was literally the most important thing for that entire state I kept getting distracted by the city that supports wife beaters
Season was fun while it lasted the Pistons would sweep us even if we made the playoff
All that hype for the 9 seed
that’s what starting 16-28 will do to you
Probably shouldn’t have done that
yea we are considering not doing it next year
I remember seeing a hornets fan come to our sub saying they had a 98% chance to win against the pistons today cause they wouldn’t be trying that hard.. not so easy to win an NBA game against the 1 seed in the east huh
Whoever said that was either posing or delusional. Pistons are the #1 seed for a reason and ended our win streak last time.
best part is the Pistons didn’t try that hard. The starters only played 20 minutes lol.
Duren had to play deep into the 4th to get to 20 minutes to stay on track for awards lol
Thats cause he had a bunch of early fouls lol
The pistons are just great with a pretty decently deep rotation and a solid defensive identity. They were still a fantastic performing team when Cade was out, and they will be even better now that he’s back. Duren is a beast and Jenkins is a fantastic add
I wouldn’t discount the Hornets too much from this game. They are almost tailor made to give us as many advantages as possible and help us out in the areas we struggle. Their weaker interior defense but flame thrower outside shooting backed by offensive rebounding are, IMO, a better matchup against teams that aren’t trying to score from the paint every possession and who have fewer guys who consistently bring defensive effort on the perimeter.
You guys are the opposite of us, and at least a year ahead.
If Bickerstaff doesn’t win this year, COTY is an absolute joke. No offense to Mazulla but we went from the 6th seed to 60 wins, with Cade missing a decent amount of time.
If I’m being honest I think coach of the year should go to Ott in phoenix.
I thought they were gonna be one of the worst teams in the league for sure and they instead are the seven seed in the west
I’m sorry that’s laughable. It’s impressive but the narrative keeps changing to avoid giving Bickerstaff the award. Last year he didn’t win enough, even though he took one of the worst teams in history and turned it into the 6th seed and now the narrative is “oh they took teams and made them better than expected” if that’s the criteria he should have a COTY already. But stop with the changing narratives. He deserves the award. He won games without Cade, Duren, and Stew. He dominated this year when no one (not even Pistons fans) expected it.
Genuinely sick of these stupid narratives changing every time a Piston is eligible for an award of some kind.
Why are you acting like I vote for the awards lol, I think bickerstaff should have won last year also
ty gang i never want to be seen as a homer fan but people really underestimate the impact bickerstaff had, he created and cultivated a winning culture in Detroit when they were in the absolute depths. Obviously its good to see your guy win and you want that but objectively bickerstaff is on an insane run with his improvement of the team like id compare his rise to Mark Daigneault when he won COTY
Same with Dan Campbell
Ott should be behind Lee imo. Lee did the exact same thing with a less established #1 option and in an east that’s frankly deeper. They’re gonna finish within 2 games of each other too
I can get behind that, this last week has been really bad for the hornets though lol
We lost our do it all All-NBA wing, top 3 rotation bigs, and defensive anchor guard. I think Mazzula is very deserving.
Our starting center this year only played in 62 games last year and didn’t even average 14mpg.
Our 6MOTY had to be a starter which meant bench depth had to be developed. No one had heard of our bench rotation guys until this year. Most of them have spent time in the g-league THIS year.
You had a finals mvp, your big in Porzingis barely played in the regular season. And our team has been destroyed by injuries and the only reason we’re gonna have an all NBA player other than Cade (maybe) is because of injuries. We’ve had a ton of injuries this year and have remained in 1st basically the whole season.
Mazulla has been impressive af this year, but stop acting like the Celtics didn’t have White, Brown, Pritchard. Our team can’t shoot for shit and had a bunch of injuries and still dominated the east.
We had those 3 guys and a bunch of scrubs. And 2 of those 3 guys are role players. Very good role players, but no one is taking White or Pritchard as their 2nd option.
Mazzula took a team most expected to tank to the 2nd seed. Don’t act like anyone expected this group to be worth a damn.
Mazulla has been impressive af this year,
Where did I say people expected this? He’s a phenomenal coach, but what Bickerstaff did with basically no shooters outside of DUNCAN FING ROBINSON is insane. I expected a tank but that’s more apparent lack of respect that y’all deserve as a team. We were winning games without Duren, Cade, and Stew. We’ve had the number 1 seed since November and never really came close to losing it.
And while we are taking about expectations, Pistons were expected to be 5th/6th seed at best. Orlando, Atlanta, Cleveland, New York, Milwaukee all were expected to be better than us.
JB is kinda getting the harden MVP treatment with the moving goalposts though. I know the Celtics blew thru expectations, but last year JB didn’t win making a team expected to be bad really good. He lost it to Atkinson for making a good team “great”. Now JB is doing the same, but this time, he’s potentially losing to a guy who took a team from bad to good. I understand it’s not 1:1 due to the scale but you can see how it would suck for a dude who took a team from 14 wins to 59 across 2 seasons to not be recognized with nothing but 2 2nd place finishes
Plus Mazzulla had a great ecosystem to work in with Brad Stevens and Udoka’s precedents. Bickerstaff had to rebuild the culture after Casey & Monty.
Not sure you want Bickerstaff to win COTY, the coty to fired in 1 year is real
Well the Pistons hired Dwayne Casey and Monty Williams right after they won COTY and got fired, so they’d just rehire Bickerstaff.
LOL
The Hornets’ roster is basically built so that the starters and the bench have the same playing style; the only real difference is the talent level. For instance, when the offense stalls, swapping Diabaté for Kalkbrenner doesn’t change anything because neither of them can shoot from deep. This leaves us with no way to switch things up in the 4th quarter, which is why our recent losses have all looked remarkably similar.
Really disappointing loss for hornets. Knicks won’t be playing for anything next game but need a win to stay at 9
if Brown is smart he only plays the starters for like 20 mins so they still might win
Yeah hornets still gotta win. They started getting blown out in the 4th with the only starter on the floor being Duren.
Very close game until the Pistons went on a 14-0 run in the 4th. Hornets fell apart, only scoring 10 (4 in garbage time) in the final quarter. Big statement for the Pistons, as there’s a chance this will be a playoff matchup.
Charlotte continues to have the coolest courts in the league. I loved that one.
It’s the same thing that happened with the sixers, the Celtics, and now you guys. If anything I’d say if we don’t have a 4th quarter collapse against you, you aren’t a contender.
This might sound a little patronizing, but I loved that first half and thought the Hornets looked like they had a real foundation. It’s a very different build, but I think they are the leaders for the “next Pistons” team to do a complete turnaround.
Problem is we don’t have a great back-up 5 and a hit-or-miss starting 3.
Yeah, the most underrated move to build this Pistons team was acquiring Beef Stew all the way back in 2020, the very first piece.
That’s a fair point.
Everyone knew he was perfect for ya’lls culture when he kept going after LeBron that one year lol.
I highly recommend everyone rewatch that video as much as possible.
LeBron is dirty in that play, and I would say it would be one of Stew’s worst 2 or maybe 3 plays (I may be forgetting one) if he had committed it himself, but I find it fascinating that Stew gets far more flak for responding to dirty play than the dirty play itself gets.
Really? The court was too busy visually and gave me a bit of a headache. Too much color and going crazy on design reduces contrast between the floor and the ball/players.
Tough loss for the Hornets but you can’t just switch off like that in the 4th against a team like the Pistons
Hornets have to start hitting guys when their guys dont get calls on obvious fouls. Not gonna call a foul when a guy shoves Kon while he is shooting? Ok, we are going to set a HARD screen on a guy. Escalate it till the refs start being reasonable.
Now would have been the time for the Hornets to do that. We wouldn’t have retaliated much. We’ve got to have guys ready for the playoffs, and your guys are going to be getting ready for Cancun soon.
We tried that last time and it led to a brawl lol.
The Hornets’ announcers backtracked so hard when they saw the replay of that play. Whereas you doubled down.
Hornets fans are bitchmade
Is this basketball advice or Miles Bridges relationship advice?
I think that was just a block. Every time hornets lose to the pistons you cry and piss your pants.
One more.
Last time the Pistons won a 59th game: April 16, 2008 (59-23 record, if you guessed Aaron Afflalo would be the leading Pistons scorer in the final game of the season, you’d be correct as his 15 points off the bench led the Pistons in an 84-74 win against Big Ben’s Cavaliers)
Last time the Pistons won a 60th game: April 4, 2006 (60-14 record, Antonio McDyess dominates with 26 points and 14 rebounds off the bench as the Pistons beat NOKC Hornets 101-93)
man Antonio McDyess is a name i havent heard in a minute..he was almost completely erased from my memory
And this is why I still stand up for both McDyess and Afflalo.
Neither were great, but they helped maintain that run.
My favorite go-to move in 2K back then was a turnaround midrange fadeaway with McDyess. Felt like it went in every time. Will always appreciate him.
They really thought shit was sweet lmao
Which is baffling. You should be able to tell from the smell.
Bro idky hornets fans have been acting so superior lately. Piston fans deserve to act smug when pre season predicts had us and the magic above yall. Yet you dont. You’d think the hornets were at 59 wins the way their fans flipped and feel they’re better than everybody.
Hell, it was an embiid post on their sub and they could’nt even fake like they had sympathy for him lol. Just mad he wasn’t out for their game. Shit is crazy
I have nothing against that team or fans but the love they got from the nba media felt a little bit much
Yeah man usually going from 16-28 to 43-36 gets you love dumbasses
It’s actually crazy. The hornets fanbase is a general sense seemed to look down on our Hawks the entire way through. Thought there’d be some solidarity for young up and coming teams like ours. Respect to Detroit for being as good as they are, of course.
Can’t blame easy schedules now that we’re at the end of the season
If only shit were not crazy. What a beautiful world it would be.
Seems like 8th seed is off the table for Hornets since the Sixers are playing 2 tanks and Magic who is higher is playing 1 tank. Wish them the best in the 2 play-ins.
47 threes lol
Pistons fans getting loud and proud is fair game, but it reminds me of the Lob City Clippers fans celebrating their wins against the early Warriors.
Hornets get actual physicality in their frontcourt and it’s a wrap.
Absolutely insane comp, you’re out of your mind
There is some nuance here. After that fight earlier in the season, there’s been some real animosity that’s developed between the 2 fanbases. That, combined with some Hornets fans talking like getting a series against the Pistons is a free pass to the second round, is why Pistons fans are talking so much shit.
I havent seen anyone saying it would be easy for the Hornets to beat Detroit. I just think after that last game there was animosity and it could entertaining. It would also be great experience against a great, physical team.
Damn dude sorry you traded for a week of Jaden Ivey, you can lower the salt level now.
Now, who is the Steph Curry in this scenario? Because I’m not seeing him.
We are just as young as the Hornets, they will be a good team for years but our core is also all 24 and younger.
Duren’s max will stunt everything over there
Yeah man, we are going to be totally stunted because we drafted an all nba center /s
Nah this ain’t it dog
we get a secondary creator and its a bigger wrap for us LOL
you pay Duren what he’s earned and you’re not getting that lmfaoooo
Love the enthusiasm
You tried and got a pastor.
No we got Kevin huerter who hit the dagger tonight lol
Fuck Cole Anthony till the day I die
Cool finger guns LaMelo. Live by the three, die by the three.
60 wins let’s hope they amount to a championship
You act like the team where the whole core is 20-24 years old is championship or bust this year.
Why would we need to hope that? There’s literally another decade for this core to compete.
You’re trying too hard babe
Lamelo created half the assists for the hornets today while being the highest scorer get that man some help
Tough L to take after playing pretty well for three quarters. Just went ice cold in the 4th again. Credit to the Pistons defense obviously but a lot is their 3 point heavy offense.
It sucks to go into a win or go home scenario when that is the style you play but thems the breaks. Hope they keep their heads up. Hopefully next year they start off well so they wont have to worry about it.
I still think a Pistons series can be real fun and great experience for the Hornets if they make it through the Play In.
I’d honestly be surprised if the Hornets won more than 1 game(and that 1 would require an insane shooting performance). The Pistons have straight dominated them this season and chuck and pray isn’t a good playoff strategy
We need to adapt the grab and Hold strategy
They live and die by the three, but often times they live. I don’t think they would win the series but they’d have at least one game where they go absolutely nuclear from three and we just can’t score as many points as them
They have a better roster than in the early games in the season. But it didn’t seem to matter. This has been a huge win of a season for Charlotte regardless. But they never seem to bring it against the Pistons.
If yall have this whistle then yeah it’ll be tough
“This whistle” while Detroit is like the league leader in fouls
Not by enough
Pathetic. Like be honorable and take the loss.
Well it helps if the players are also interested in actually playing defense, and not just hoist 3s all game.
I mean, the Celtics won a chip with that strategy so idk if I agree. Obviously they were much better and more experienced but still, the strategy was similar. Definitely has not been effective against Detroit though. Its kind of why I want that series. Dont expect the Hornets to win, but playing against and adapting to that physicality could be good for them.
The Celtics also lost in 5 last year(Tatum got hurt in that 5th game btw) to a mediocre Knicks team because their shot went cold.
It’s easier when you have 2 superstars (and Porzingas who wasn’t super healthy that run tbf), but it’s not reliable
Sure, but if that’s the best strategy for the personell you have and it can win, then you just gotta go for it. The Hornets are built around Lamelo, Brandon, and Kon. They can never play like the Pistons.
Pls make it thru the play-in for my teams sake
LaMelo threw the game away in the fourth, just awful
Was the biggest reason it was a game for three quarters
Lamelo isnt going to fuck you
He’s also the reason the Hornets will never be a serious contender
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Why would we need to hope that? We have another 10 years with this core to be a contender, there’s no hurry.
Maybe let’s hope your superstar LaMelo Ball can make it out of the play-ins instead.
Get any other all-star level PG on that team and they would finnish top 4 every year.
see you just don’t know what you’re talking about. how would the hospital hornets finish top 4 every year? what top 4 point guard is taking daquan jeffries taj gibson and isaiah wong to a top 4 seed.
what are you talking about. when the team has been healthy they’ve been in the play-in. LaMelo isn’t the problem. you’re just typing to type man
Game was over bruv
This hornets team winning 2 play-in games would really be an accomplishment. The roster flaws have been exposed playing good teams. Kon playing probably his worst ball of the entire season is not helping.
Every other play in team getting g league squads and we playing full rotation 1 seed good league
lol nah dog this was the game Hornets fans wanted I thought because they can easily beat the Pistons don’t get to flip on it like that buzz buzz
That wasn’t a full rotation, the starters all played around 23 minutes for the Pistons besides Cade who played 28(which makes sense, need to ramp him back up for the playoffs)
Got to play healthy Celtics and Pistons squads to end the season while the Magic get to dick around with the Bulls, Wolves w/o Ant, and Pistons w/o Cade it’s actually fucked up. If the Knicks don’t rest literally everyone in the final game of the season with their playoff position locked in I’ll be pissed.
Yeah I actually thought we were just gonna phone it in tbh. Wondering if the org wants to try for 60 wins, get cade up to 64 games (so he can apply for exception for end of season awards), or maybe just get the reps with cade back. I personally wanted to avoid yall for r1, so was hoping we’d gift you a win tonight to get up to 7⁄8.
Either way, good game (for 3 quarters)
Let’s get 60
Surprised Coby White didn’t get some more minutes
He sat last game with a groin strain
You could see he wasn’t at full capability today
he was leaking points all game. Josh Green not playing over Sion was the real travesty
He was looking off very early for some reason. Could have been Piston’s defense in fairness
Ive only watched LaMelo against the Pistons this year, but he just seems to make back breaking plays that turn the game at the worst times.
The 3 he took early in the 4th when it was still 97-92 but momentum was clearly shifting to the Pistons and they needed a bucket to stop it and hit the side of the backboard was terrible.
LaMelo talking shit all game only to go an impressive 1⁄4 from the field with 4 turnovers in the fourth is hilarious
I look away, trying to make a protein shake when it was close and then it was pretty much over lol
You’re doing that more for your team right now than anyone is doing for the Hornets lol. Nobody sweating the pistons in the playoffs
I see what you’re going for but I think at the very least NY would love to not have to play us lol
Sure sure whatever you say
No one crowned them. They were playing well.
That’s cool, yall got no chance at a title despite being the 1 seed. At least I ain’t sweatin it
E/ don’t delete your comments nerds. You finna talk shit, stand on it
I mean I wouldn’t say that at all I think they could
lol actually I prefer my team doesn’t make the playoffs 😎
Loser mentality lol
I would hope the one seed would be a good team yes good point
It was just getting very grating hearing for the past 3 weeks when Cade went down how the Pistons would probably lose to the Hornets in round 1
the way people were talking not even a month ago you would think otherwise
That shit was always smoke. The Pistons are clearly our worst matchup in the entire league and anyone saying otherwise was stupid as hell.
There’s a ton of people here who are stupid as hell.
I would argue otherwise, but you’ve got solid potential with a crazy consistent 3 ball. Just need any semblance of a defense and bench and you’ve got yourself a top 3 seed
I would argue otherwise
I don’t think you can argue that there’s a worse matchup for the Hornets.
I mean hornets primary thing is the 3 ball and the pistons don’t really prevent. I think a high-scoring team like healthy Philly or Boston is more scary since your defense is more lacking.
Our defense as a whole isn’t that bad but our rim protection is really bad because our starting center is 6’9” and our starting power forward is 6’7”. Detroit only know how to score in the paint. You do the math on that.
And while Detroit doesn’t “prevent” three pointers they clearly make it very difficult to get good looks from three.
That game in December kind of sealed the deal for me. That game is still the Hornets’ worst loss of the season.
It’s the Celtics and Cavs and it’s been that way for months
Lamelo was the only decent player for hornets, they need some size at the 4 and 5
Desperately need someone other than Miles Bridges in the front court.
passed on Clingan for Salaun, passed on Yanic for McNeeley.
I like Jeff for bringing stability to the organization but Kalkbrenner can’t be the best 7 footer on a team with serious aspirations.
Who tf is Yanic
Go watch the tape then imagine him with Melo Kon and B
“Passed on Yanic,” okay now we’re talking crazy.
YKN is infinitely better than Liam are you crazy. His injury is the only reason he isn’t being talked about right now. Literally why the Clips were comfortable getting off Zubac.
Imagine Yanic with Melo. If you haven’t seen him play just say that.
Yanic’s best averages in a month this year were 8/6/0 with 2.3 BLKs and 0.7 STLs across just three games in March. I don’t think he’s done enough to say that they’ve missed out on him. He’s had flashes and that’s literally it.
He’s also already 23 years old.
alright man if you didn’t actually watch him im not going to argue averaged with you. he was playing behind zu and lopez to start. then flourished when rotation guys got injured and minutes opened up— his positional awareness, athleticism, and mobility are literally not normal for a player of his size.
at the end of the day we want the same thing which is the Hornets to win but to act like Yanic wouldn’t be a phenom in this Hornets offense is something i just vehemently disagree with. especially when he excels in the role that the team literally does not have.
I’m willing to listen I just didn’t think he was like that. Diabate didn’t do much for the Clippers either because he was also buried in their rotation and he’s been excellent for us.
He single handedly lost them the game in the 4th I’d say.
He also was the main reason it was a game by that point though you live and die by LaMelo its just how it goes
Deeeeeeeeeeeeetroit
Hornets locked into the 9⁄10 game if Philly/Orlando both win tonight
Held them to 10 in the 4th, sheesh
Held them to 8 in the 4th quarter.
A carbon copy repeat of the game in December. I don’t even know where to start with why the Hornets completely fucking sucked in the 4th quarter. Absolutely nothing they did was good.
Hornets are doomed in the playoffs one of the worst gameplans I’ve ever seen a nba team put on tape
Buzz meet saw. Play the fuckin song!
The hornets forgetting how to play basketball in the 4th quarter with a game almost tied going into it is the most predictable thing ever. Same thing happened last game vs the Celtics and in multiple important games this year, team has no clutch gene in their body.
It’s their playstyle. Chuck and pray doesn’t work as well in the 4th quarter in higher pressue situations
do you think its a coaching thing? I was surprised not to see White get more minutes
White is injured. He sat last game, ramped back up this game.
He had a groin strain early this week and it’s the wrong time of year to push that.
Hornets sub will blame Charles Lee for a lot and pretend a different lineup at a different time would have made a difference, or that some improved play calling would have made a difference, and maybe it would have, but he’s also not a magician with secret plays that can somehow boost everyone’s energy, make shots go in, and penetrate a defense that was a fuckin brick wall in the 4th (as a sicko who has missed watching 4 hornets games this season)
Feels like 80% of the job of being a head coach is just being the dude people get mad at when they dont know who to get mad at.
All Coby does is dribble at the logo until <10sec and then either throw up a prayer 3 or turn it over on a drive. There is 0 actual offense being run when hes the ball handler
Watching LaMelo in the 4th was like an infinitely repeating car crash.
He carried the rest of the game because no-one else on this god-forsaken team knows how to do anything with the basketball.
Ironic lol