Van Gundy Sounds Alarms, Says Pistons Are "In Jeopardy"

A day after the Pistons lost for the sixth time in their past seven games, the latest defeat a 25-point home drubbing at the hands of the Bucks, coach Stan Van Gundy put things into perspective.

"We're in jeopardy right now," he told reporters, via MLive's Aaron McMann. "(We're) certainly not out of it, but every loss puts you more in jeopardy, especially when you're losing at home. There's no question you have to understand that."

The Pistons are 15-19 through 34 games and sit in 11th place place in the Eastern Conference, two games out of the final playoff spot. It's hardly a crisis point, not with so much basketball remaining, but the Pistons are heading in the wrong direction.

"You can't run from the fact that all those losses are putting you in jeopardy," Van Gundy continued. "But you still have 48 games to go. There's plenty of time to get things together and make a run and everything else."

The Pistons' struggles are a bit puzzling, if only because this same core of players had a breakthrough season in 2015-16. But the East is stronger this year, with the Celtics, Knicks and Bulls all making notable roster upgrades.

"We have a history with this group that has done it," Van Gundy said. "So we're not sitting there and saying, hoping that this is a group that can win games. We've seen it. We know it can happen. So that's a positive side of it. The frustrating side of it is it's not happening enough."