AUBURN HILLS – The thickest common thread to the five wins the Pistons strung together before their injury-fueled losing streak struck was resoundingly positive bench play.
One reason the Pistons then lost six straight was the loss of Ish Smith midway through the second of those six straight losses. Smith along with veteran center Zaza Pachulia gave the second unit its personality as much as Stanley Johnson’s end-to-end rushes or Langston Galloway’s 3-point bombs or Bruce Brown’s in-your-face defense.
No coincidence, then, that when the Pistons snapped their losing streak on Saturday by ending Boston’s eight-game winning streak, the bench’s strong play was again at the heart of it.