The Pistons allow 101.8 points a game, the fewest in the NBA

The Detroit Pistons allow 101.8 points per game, the fewest of the NBA's 30 teams, per ESPN's standings. The next-lowest mark belongs to the Oklahoma City Thunder at 104.6 points per game. Detroit is 5-1, and the defense, not the offense, is doing the work: the Pistons score 109.8 points per game, below the league average of 114.0.

Game by game

• Celtics: won 121-113
• at Heat: won 128-111
• at 76ers: won 106-93
• at Knicks: lost 97-111
• Hornets: won 97-89
• at Nets: won 110-94

The pattern holds across all 6 games. Detroit has held 5 of its 6 opponents to 111 points or fewer, and the only team to top that mark, Boston with 113, still lost. The win at Brooklyn on October 30 was the latest entry: Detroit held the Nets to 94 points.

Not just a soft schedule

The skeptic's case is the opposition: 3 of Detroit's 6 opponents have losing records. But those same opponents score more against everyone else. Across their 28 other games, Detroit's 6 opponents average 111.9 points, compared with 101.8 against Detroit. Boston averages 120.8 points per game overall and scored 113 against Detroit; Philadelphia averages 108.7 and scored 93. The drop is consistent, not one cold night.

The caveat

The caveat: 6 games is 6 games. Early defensive numbers swing on a single hot shooting night, and the loss, 111-97 at New York, shows what happens when Detroit allows more than its average. What can be said: through 6 games, no team in the NBA allows fewer points than Detroit, and the gap to the next-lowest team is 2.8 points per game.