Pistons' six-game win streak meets a Wizards team in a slide

Monday's game pairs a Detroit team riding a six-game winning streak, tracked in home games, with a Washington team that has lost three straight. Form points clearly toward the Pistons. The questions are how much that form is worth given who is missing on each side, and whether Washington's recent offensive collapse is a blip or a trend.

Washington's last two results show how wide its range has been. On Friday the Wizards lost 139-132 to Atlanta in an NBA Cup game, with Trae Young scoring 23 in his return to face his former team. A night later they lost 114-75 to Oklahoma City, held to the lowest total in the NBA this season while shooting poorly. Washington was 4-5 before that loss. Playing on consecutive nights may explain part of the swing, but the Oklahoma City result is the freshest evidence on this roster and it is a poor one.

Detroit was 6-2 and third in the Eastern Conference going into its weekend game against the Lakers. The Pistons also played that game on Sunday, so they have a quick turnaround here. That is a small counterweight to the form edge, though Washington's own schedule has been just as compressed.

Head-to-head history leans Detroit but carries a caveat. The Pistons won both March meetings, 130-117 and 117-95, and took a 137-135 decision last November. Washington won 126-117 in Detroit in February and also won the October preseason game 114-108. Those results are from earlier rosters and, in the preseason case, a low-stakes setting, so they carry limited weight.

Injuries cut both ways. Detroit is without Jalen Duren, who has begun on-court activity but will miss at least two more weeks with a hamstring injury. Isaiah Joe was ruled out for Sunday's Lakers game with a hip issue. Washington has ruled out Tristan Vukcevic with a hip injury. Reece Beekman will be re-evaluated in roughly three weeks, and Justin Champagnie is expected to miss several months. Duren's absence is the most significant for Detroit, but the Pistons' winning run has come with that gap in place, so it is already part of their recent results.

The largest swing factor is Anthony Davis, listed as questionable with an ankle injury. His status is unresolved, and it matters because Washington is already thin and coming off its weakest offensive night of the season.

Overall, Detroit has the stronger recent results, a home setting and a visitor in a slump. Washington's counterpoints are its own capacity for high-scoring games, as in the Atlanta loss, and the possibility that its rotation gets a boost if Davis plays.