PISTONS BASKETBALL IS BACK! Pistons vs Bucks (preseason)

Game Breakdown

Pistons - 120 - 87 W

• Cunningham, Ivey, THJ, Fontecchio, Duren

  • Turnovers to start the game…..AND the defense has been ROUGH

    • Finish the game with only 12 TOs and give up 87 points (plenty of subs played for the Bucks but to a lesser extent the Pistons as well)

  • Multiple guard to guard actions in secondary transition

    • Cade gets ball screen from THJ

    • Cade pass and follow to Ivey

    • Cade gets ghost screen from Beasley

    • Cade attack and then DHO with Ivey

    • Ivey gets ball screen from Cade

  • They have already had some of the better ball movement possessions I can remember

    • Seems like the flow and movement is just really good

    • Ball moves side to side, one action into the next

    • This alone will help with floor spacing because it will keep defenders chasing and occupied off the ball

    • 9:15 4th they get a middle downhill drive and weakside flare (Reed for Moore) which is just such impossible action to guard

    • How many backdoor cuts and layups in this game? How many of those did we see all of last year?

      • I think every big connected on at least one as well

  • ATO action where Ivey starts with the ball in hand and CADE gets to come off a pindown (I like it)

  • Beasley an early sub for Ivey

    • Holland (paired with Stew) comes in for Fontecchio

    • Ivey comes back in the 1st, with Cade still in, for THJ

    • Only played 8 players in the 1st half….

  • So many multiple effort examples in this game on the boards and on defense

    • Perfect examples late in the 3rd quarter from Moore and Reed

    • Off ball rotations

    • On ball getting beat but making next effort to be disruptive

• IVEY taking the Dame matchup to start the game

  • Him being able to take these matchups are just as important as the offensive things that are discussed (especially in non Ausar minutes)

    • Hasn’t exactly gone ideal to start as Dame is 3-3 from 3 BUT….

    • 1 was on a tough contest after Fontecchio switch and other 2 were what looked like a touch of confusion on whether they were switching a handoff

    • Struggled with ball screen navigation BUT love the play at 8:30 2nd where he makes second effort to stay with it and get block from behind

  • OFF SCREEN CURL!!! YES

    • Get him the ball on the move

    • LOVE the secondary transition where Cade probes and then quickly dribbles back out and then the handoff and Ivey gets to the FT line

    • 10:53 3rd, lifts off a Cade drive and gets just enough of a closeout for him to attack and get the and-one

  • Walking paint touch in the 1st quarter

  • 2-2 on corner 3PAs

    • 3-3 after a hustle OREB

• DUREN with a couple nice on ball screens here early

  • Underrated thing to watch this year with him with all of the other focus 

    • Sets another really nice one on Cade first 3PM

    • MULTIPLE in the 1st half

  • Playing at the level in ball screen and just not able to stay in front of Dame (Ivey navigation hasn’t helped either)

    • Then has an AWESOME possession 3:51 2nd quarter where he’s active with his hands and forces a TO

    • Another great hand activity around 8:30 3rd that ends with a steal and Holland transition finish

  • Has actually NOT been doing the grab and go (just a dribble or so and then kick ahead) but HAS been running stuff in the HC

    • Multiple good backdoor passes out of this

    • Love the DHO at 8:00 2nd where he lets Holland curl around him and then passes it off BUT…

  • Has struggled to finish around the rim including on the end of this possession

    • THERE’S a nice one over Lopez

    • Couple lobs now and a OREB putback

• THJ is going to struggle to stay in front on the ball

  • Preseason BUT don’t love some of the attempts when you have Cade on the court

• HOLLAND makes presence felt on very first possession with hustle OREB (eventually leads to 3PM for Beasley)

  • Then on the first defensive possession he gets involved on a DREB and tips it away for Portis to eliminate the second chance opportunity

  • Great low man rotation and takes a charge

  • Getting the Dame matchup now

    • You can see the pride he is going to take on the defensive end, he might end up being further along on this end than I thought

  • Over dribbled once in transition but otherwise I feel like he has been a good ball mover, quick decisions

    • Has been GREAT with his one more passes

      • 6:00 3rd is a great example of where he has to be good….one more pass isn’t there but he recognizes it too late and misses opportunity to attack closeout OR just take the C&S 3PA

    • Yea….he’s a little out of control in transition, this will be a learning process for him

      • You can see the rawness of the offensive game

  • Hasn’t found the touch from the 3P line

• BEASLEY showing the floor spacing he can provide

  • Gets feet set and on balance very quickly

  • Has actually made some really impactful defensive plays as well

    • His activity on this end of the floor has been very positive thus far

    • Seems like he is doing A LOT of the communicating as well

• CADE shows off that little mid post game that I thought he had coming into the NBA

  • Has another really nice move later but gets blocked from behind

  • Have liked his hand activity on the defensive end (multiple deflections in the 1st quarter alone)

    • His engagement overall has been good on this end

    • Multiple off ball rotations

  • This has to be the most we have seen playing off the ball and not just dribbling, dribbling, dribbling 

• FONTECCHIO has such good off the ball relocation to set up some of his 3PAs

  • Has just enough off the bounce to attack closeouts as well

• STEW does a nice job playing with verticality at the rim to contest shots

• SASSER has done some really nice things attacking the paint, have to admit

  • He looked very “springy”, he mentioned it at media day but wonder how much he truly was feeling the length of the season last year 

• REED made multiple defensive hustle plays to get blocks

• MOORE has definitely been flashing and taking advantage of the minutes he is getting

Bucks

• Dame, Trent Jr., Connaughton, Prince, Lopez

  • They are on FIRE from beyond the arc right now (Dame breaking down the defense)

    • Continues into the 2nd quarter and from their bigs

  • Who is going to defend the best perimeter players for them….???

    • Jackson Jr. has the Cade matchup late in the 1st quarter

    • Delon Wright?

  • What is the big man rotation when 1 of Giannis, Lopez and/or Portis is out???

  • Their young guys have not been impressive

• PRINCE taking the Cunningham matchup for the Bucks

  • TRENT JR. guarding him now (really hope he is okay, that would be a major blow for the Bucks)

• DAME doing his thing from beyond the 3P line early

  • Goodness….3 for 3 to start the game

  • He is LOCKED IN

• LOPEZ archetype of big is just so impactful

  • Shows on back to back possessions with PnP 3PM and then block on the other end

    • Does it again a few minutes later

• PORTIS is a player I continue to really like

  • Knocks down C&S but has a little isolation game also

  • Honestly, this is what I would love to see Stew ultimately become (with better defensive impact)

• JOHNSON looking as raw as many discussed during the draft cycle

  • It’s going to take some time for him to be ready