Charlotte isn't done this weekend. The Hornets went straight from Washington to a Saturday home game against Philadelphia, a back-to-back. That game will decide whether they arrive Monday on a 3-game slide or with a win behind them, and it's the reason there's no Bush's pick on this one yet. Detroit has no game in between: after beating Brooklyn 110-94 on the 3rd night in 4, the Pistons get 2 full days off before tipoff at 7:30 PM ET.
Detroit has looked like the team Cunningham keeps saying people underrate. The Pistons owned the East's best record last season, and Cunningham said in October that they still feel slept on. The Brooklyn game is a good snapshot: down 28-21 after 1, then outscored the Nets 71-38 across the 2nd and 3rd quarters. The only loss so far is 111-97 to the Knicks. With Duren out, the formula is defense and Cunningham, and it's working. Detroit has held 4 of its last 5 opponents to 111 or fewer, and 3 of them under 100.
Charlotte is in year 1 of a rebuild. The Hornets traded LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges in the offseason, brought in Naz Reid, Grayson Allen and Dennis Schröder, and the idea was more players who can create instead of one. So far the scoring hasn't followed: 79 at Washington, 89 at Detroit, and 81 in a blowout loss to Atlanta, with wins over Miami and Washington in between. Miller is putting up big numbers. The question for Monday is whether anyone else gives him help, and whether White or Knueppel is back in time to do it.