DETROIT — The injuries were bound to catch up to the Detroit Pistons at some point.
The Pistons (28-10) have remained top in the Eastern Conference through most of the season, despite dealing with not just a plethora of short-term injuries, but their constant overlap.
Patchwork starting fives have been a bit too common, but never really led to defeats until Saturday night’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Without [three typical starters and key defensive force Isaiah Stewart](https://www.mlive.com/pistons/2026/01/top-3-scorers-defensive-leader-all-out-for-pistons-vs-clippers.html), the Pistons dropped their 10th game of the season.
But relying on a group that hasn’t played much together this season, without their top three scorers and [being competitive in a six-point loss](https://www.mlive.com/pistons/2026/01/turnovers-bring-late-collapse-for-pistons-in-defeat-to-clippers.html) isn’t going to keep the Pistons from lingering on the result for too long.
“I won’t find anything negative in what these guys did tonight,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “To go out and compete the way that they competed, shorthanded as they were, to put themselves in position to even have a chance at it down the stretch. I give them a ton of credit.
“When you have guys out of position and playing different spots, things happen. But the way they competed, the way they stuck together, they gave themselves a chance. Like, there’s nothing negative about what happened to these guys tonight.”
While the Clippers’ record (15-23) is lacking, there’s no shortage of talent between perennial All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and James Harden alongside John Collins and Ivica Zubac — who benefitted from the Pistons being paper thin in their front court.
Harden was still given a difficult time by the Pistons’ defense as he was held to 4-of-20 shooting from the field. If not for 11 foul shots, his impact would’ve been fairly manageable.
Through the injuries, the Detroit defense has shown time and again to rarely lack based on availability. Having key wings like Javonte Green and Ausar Thompson leading the defense continually makes a tough matchup for opposing playmakers and Detroit finished with a season-high 18 steals on the night.
The most noticeable drop was in the paint as Paul Reed and two-way big man Tolu Smith had to manage the 7-foot Zubac. While he didn’t dominate on both ends, the Pistons were held well below their 57.5 points in the paint per game — with 46 — and allowed Zubac to finish 6-of-9 from the field.
“When bodies are down, it’s just next man up mentality,” Smith said after playing a career-high 26 minutes in his sixth career game. “Our culture and our ability to just play with whoever we got, we got a group of dogs that’s just willing to play.”
Detroit looked well on its way for a win in the fourth quarter as a 14-point lead was built out in the first three minutes of the period.
But the Pistons got sloppy on offense and turned the ball over 12 times in the fourth, allowing a veteran Clippers team to take advantage.
The average age of Clippers players who played in the fourth quarter was 32, while Detroit’s was 26 — and they only used one player aged 32 or older.
It was an ugly end to the game, which did bother some in the locker room, even if Bickerstaff preached that the team’s identity and desired process were ever present during the game.
“We did what we were supposed to do, but I didn’t do my job,” guard Daniss Jenkins said after a career-high five turnovers. “I’m not saying that in a selfish way, but I mean, we had the lead in that fourth quarter, the ball in my hands, too many turnovers down the stretch.
“That’s the negatives for me. But we did what we were supposed to do, competing wise. We did our part, we did what we was trying to do this game and we should have won that game.”
The Pistons are in a position where one loss in January isn’t weighing too heavily on their standing as the top team in the East. Getting back the likes of Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Tobias Harris and Stewart is going to be crucial to avoiding a losing streak with three of the next five games against teams with winning records.
The positive is that the Pistons don’t play again until Thursday, meaning four full days without a game to try and get their roster healthy again.
Detroit can clearly still compete with a lot of their pieces missing, but the team wants to keep stacking wins and that’s going to be more doable with everyone involved again.