Pistons vs Atlanta Hawks
Game Breakdown
*SPECIAL SITUATIONS*
Leading the NBA in “rebound margin” entering this game
Of course, they are giving up OREBs in the 1st quarter (haha, never fails)
TIM HARDAWAY JR. TIED FOR THE LEAD IN THE NBA WITH 5 CHARGES DRAWN!
Doesn’t really matter but it’s funny listening to Hawks broadcast consistently critique the PISTONS shot selection even while Detroit is scoring at the pace that they are
CADE TO (just because I know this is a big talking point)
5:31 1st Quarter
PnR with Paul Reed, looks like he either wants to throw the lob and Reed isn’t ready OR he wants to skip to the weakside slot but Beasley relocated to the top of the key
6:30 2nd Quarter
Lazy wing entry to Ivey, could argue Ivey should come to ball and hold off defender but Cade should still see it and throw a better pass OR hold it and let Ivey cut backdoor
:36 2nd Quarter
Stew is open under the basket after a just chaotic sequence, Daniels gets his hands up and deflects the pass
Would chalk this up to good defense BUT I think Johnson may be rotating from the weak side to steal the pass….I think the better play is manipulate Johnson with his eyes and then hit Harris weak side corner for 3PA
5:20 3rd Quarter
Just gets ripped by Daniels at halfcourt, simply have to be tighter with the ball when being guarded by one of the league's best defensive playmakers
11:35 4th Quarter
Drive and kick that will get Beasley wide open C&S 3PA but doesn’t see rotating defender and gets called for offensive foul after the pass
7:10 4th Quarter
Similar to the one in the 2nd quarter but different situation, PnR with Stew and Daniels gets his hand up and deflects the pass….I think he should have manipulated Risacher as the tag man helping in and then threw the skip to Holland in weakside corner
:52 4th Quarter
Transition bounce pass to Beasley, Beasley should have caught it but the pass does make it a REALLY tough catch on the move, just threw it too far and then the bounce it’s getting back up high enough by the time it gets to Beasley (this might seal the game if connected)
REALLY nice response at the end of the 3rd quarter to stretch the lead back out before going into the 4th
HAWKS CUT THE LEAD TO 2 WITH ABOUT 5 MINUTES TO PLAY (Cade taking his final break)
Harris corner C&S 3PM
Reed/Ivey hand activity and force Young TO
Ivey OREB bucket pushes lead back to 7
Back to back TOs from Ivey and buckets from Hawks ties it back up
Harris HUGE 3PM from top of the key after a broken play
Ivey with an and one mid range jumper puts them back up 4 and Cade subs back in
Cade TO (see above)
Daniels with a HUGE corner C&S 3PM, Cade probably can’t help off this much in this specific situation (Daniels is 30% from 3 on the season)
Cade misses a decent looking mid range step back where he did have a little space, Pistons up 1
Young gets into the lane and draws a foul, 2 FTM and Pistons are down 1
LOTS OF PTSD AFTER WHAT WE SAW ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT
CADE with an absolutely ridiculous left hand make over 2 defenders
CADE with the help the helper weakside block on Okongwu!!!
REALLY, REALLY good seeing them find a way to win this game after that loss on Wednesday night, this is a couple times we have seen this team bounce back after a tough loss/performance
Pistons - 122 - 121 W
Cade, Ivey, THJ, Harris, Stew
Should note this is the first game they have had to go beyond the 9 man rotation they started the season with (of course, they have played the entire year without Ausar who we all assume would SOLIDLY be in that rotation)
10:40 1st quarter defensive possession
Doesn’t end up with a rebound BUT the individual efforts of Stew on Young and Cade on Daniels really stands out
9:32 1st quarter from IVEY!!! This is beautiful “stick hand” right in the crossover pocket and forces a Young TO
6:30 1st quarter we see multiple efforts and rotations we simply didn’t see in the past…..from who? CADE AND IVEY (a legit two way backcourt right now)
4:10 1st quarter we see Cade with AWESOME hand placement in a PnR possession that leads directly to a TO
My biggest complaint continues to be the amount of backdoors they give up, especially when they aren’t forcing TOs from being in passing lanes
Their hand activity and second efforts, especially for blocks (10th in the NBA) has been VERY impressive
Ivey block in the 3rd is perfect example, gets beat off the bounce by Young but keeps playing and blocks Capela on the dump off after Stew helps
Haven’t made note of those secondary transitions recently but we see the pay off early in the game
Cade gets screen from THJ, they don’t want to switch Young onto Cade so THJ gets the pop and 3PM
End of 3rd quarter offense/defense sub pays off again as Cade gravity gets Beasley a C&S 3PM
Yet again, the TOs are what allows the Hawks back in the game after Detroit built a HUGE lead in the 1st half
This is probably a blowout if they make FTs and limit TOs
IVEY continues to take the toughest defensive assignments, Young in this game
The numbers actually don’t back it up but I feel like he looks much better with that little floater and would be a huge addition to his scoring package
C&S 3P continues to look good
10 game sample now and he’s still at 40% overall
Mid range jumper looks controlled as well, I think he just has better control of his mechanics right now
Still has the 1 or 2 bad process attempts per game
Early 3rd quarter pull up with no passes
Follows it up with PERFECT process on the next possession (Harris missed corner 3PA)
STEW with an early PnR finish
Not the “sexiest” or “flashiest” but maybe he finds his way of finishing these
Misses a big one in the 4th
Then makes them pay for switching (on a TREMENDOUS jail from Cade) even though it took a miss and OREB
Short roll pass!!! Okay, he’s been awesome in the ball screen to start the game
Seems like he has given up some OREBs to Capela early
His ability to play at the level and then backpedal and recover is actually REALLY impressive
Offers ball screen coverage versatility that other bigs simply do not
2:15 2nd quarter, WHAT A BLOCK!!! on Young drive
HARRIS first two mid post isolations have been productive
FTs and middle of the lane fade
Corner C&S 3PM!!!
Here we go….has made 3 in the 1st half
CADE IS DISSECTING THEM IN THE 1ST QUARTER
Gets wherever he wants, how he wants, at his pace
How many potential assists did he have in this 1st half….
IMO, this is who Cade wants to be (not what we saw in the Hornets game)
Get teammates involved to start the game, breakdown the defense and distribute the ball, grab rebounds, play good defense, ALL AROUND IMPACT
AND THEN….score when his team really needs him to
Is an overall inefficient scoring 1st half from him though
And then we are seeing EXACTLY what you want to see in the 4th quarter
Even the BLOB deflection in the 2nd quarter shows an increased engagement from him on the defensive end this season, love it
Love his mid post game
I think the next addition has to be the baseline fade away
Showing off the footwork with it here in the 3rd quarter
3P does need to start falling
Down at 34% after this game
Multiple examples in this game, and first 10, where you can see the increased strength and physicality in the way he attacks the basket
Take the Nance verticality contest and still finishing in the 4th quarter is a prime example
And the baseline drive on Roddy a few possessions later
REED going to get some real rotation minutes with Duren out
Knocks down his first corner C&S 3PA from a Cade drive and kick and follows up with a mid range make
TO and misses his next few attempts, assume this is going to be the Paul Reed experience
Has a GREAT weak side rotation lob deflection
BEASLEY, of course, misses his first 2 C&S opportunities and knocks down his first mid range off the bounce….
After I have begged for him to just stay with C&S….does knock down a wide open corner C&S 3P on next possession
Does hit a couple nice floaters
HOLLAND missed it but LOVE the process at 10:00 2nd quarter
Beasley with a nice drive and kick, Holland shot fakes the closeout and attacks the rim, just can’t finish through the contact
Talk about playing through contact….the finish THROUGH Risacher is a physical bucket
FONTECCHIO looking more comfortable to start this game, perhaps settling into this role with the team?
Missed his first attempt but knocked down the next and then got a mid range step back to fall
Has a couple nice attacks off the bounce
Hawks
Young, Daniels, Risacher, Johnson, Capela
DANIELS takes the Cade matchup for them
He just makes so much sense for this team defensively being able to be the guy that takes these
And he is so disruptive, averaging 3 steals per game
Even while guarding the best player he is very aware and opportunistic off the ball to take calculated chances to be disruptive
HE HAS BEEN UNREAL DEFENSIVELY
Double digit playmaking examples
Back to back games where he has REALLY struggled scoring anything inside the 3P line
RISACHER at least flashing early, he doesn’t lack confidence or aggressiveness
3P% simply has to be better and this WAS a concern for some in the predraft process
YOUNG may be inefficient and a player people don’t always love but man, his passing is really nice
Has back to back passes to Capela that thread the needle perfectly
You are in such a difficult spot once he gets you on his back
Whether people like it or not, he is really good drawing fouls off that in the regular season
Some of the 3P he makes are just ridiculous
Wow, continues throughout the entire game
JOHNSON does so many things on the court, putting up legit number right now
If he ever consistently hits the 3P shot you are looking at a real all star level player
Has a nice little takeover here late in the 3rd quarter
MATTHEWS 3P shot diet is just unreal with the movement and level of difficulty on the attempts
CAPELA touch is a little rough BUT his ability to make tough catches and then dunk the ball (including lobs) is still very impressive
NANCE JR. is just a vets vet
Hit a couple 3P and highlight dunk off a Young pass, still has some real vertical pop
He’s going off in the 4th quarter and keeping the Pistons from really extending out this lead
