Pistons vs Boston Celtics
Game Breakdown
*Special Situations*
64 - 44 2nd Quarter ATO and the Celtics have hit 15 3P….I want to see if Detroit responds or if this thing just becomes a true blowout by halftime
They trap Cade on the ATO, two total passes on the possession that ends with contested THJ 3PA (continue to love what Boston does defensively ATO)
Duren with solid defense but Tatum hits contested 3P off the dribble (44 - 67)
Ivey with a bad process but good result transition 3PM (47 - 67)
Get a miss from White and then Ivey gets downhill and finishes (49 - 67)
Get a miss from Tatum and then Cade corner C&S 3PM (52 - 67)
Couple more stops with one Duren FTM and then Cade attacks a closeout and hits Duren for the lob (55 - 67)
Get an offensive foul but then give it right back with one of their own BUT they have at least weathered the storm to keep the game competitive into the 2nd half
***THIS STRETCH ENDED UP BEING HUGE FOR THEM TO BE IN THE GAME LATE***
QUESTIONS FOR THE 4TH QUARTER???
Cade has seemed to play quite a few minutes and is in to start the quarter, can he play 12 straight effectively without wearing down?
Takes a break mid 4th, returns a minute or so later
Does JB go with Harris in the 4th after how he has played?
Does return (I assume Fontecchio just had exhausted his continuous minutes and needed a break?) and immediately forces an isolation
Does Holland get minutes or do they keep the shorter rotation for the entire 2nd half as they go for the win?
This isn’t looking likely
END OF GAME - 5:00 4th (112 - 106)
Straight Cade Iso into missed stepback 3PA, Duren tip out OREB….Cade TO on BLOB (112 - 106)
Horford missed 3PA (112 - 106)
Ivey attacks Horford but unable to finish or draw foul (112 - 106)
Holiday corner 3PM off TOUGH Horford catch on short roll and kick, quick one more from White (112 - 109)
Harris missed corner C&S 3PA on Ivey drive and kick (112 - 109)
Holiday wing 3PM off Brown drive and kick (blow by on Harris) followed by swing swing (112 - 112)
Cade “heave” on a possession that never gets inside the 3P line….offense completely bogged down and stagnant (112 - 112)
Tatum backdoors a top lock from THJ, posts him and scores (112 - 114)
THJ 3PA off another stagnant possession BUT bailed out by Ivey OREB put back (114 - 114)
Tatum miss but……can’t secure the DREB (offense usually makes you pay in these situations)…..not this time, White miss off BLOB (114 - 114)
Ivey first, Harris second get stripped by Holiday in transition (114 - 114)
Tatum fouled on mid post isolation, two FTM (114 - 116)
Nice backdoor action for Cade but WHITE does what he does with a block….Ivey missed 3PA on ensuing BLOB (114 - 116)
Tatum with a TOUGH mid range jumper over Ivey (114 - 118)
Cade drive and kick to Beasley for 3PM (117 - 118)
White with two FTM (117 - 120)
Pistons out of timeouts….Celtics foul Cade, one FTM (118 - 120)
Brown with two FTM (118 - 122)
Pistons - 118 - 124 L
Cade, Ivey, THJ, Harris, Duren
No expectations for a victory in this one BUT am fascinated to see how they compete and who is able to “look good” against THIS level of competition
Cade and Ivey (sans TOs) have looked just about as good as you could want (team only ended with 14 and 7 were Cade)
Ivey only had 1 in the box score so he was better than what I realized
And want to emphasize again, they look plenty comfortable playing with and off of each other….it’s not “your turn, my turn”
Give Duren a lot conversation about ball screen coverage but mid 1st quarter it looks like he calls “ICE” and Cade either doesn’t hear him or execute and it makes it look like he is out of position when Tatum gets the pull up 3PA
Happens again at 3:45 1st between Holland - Stew and this one results in a Tatum 3PM
I know Boston is an ELITE 3P shooting team but some of these are off OREBs, miscommunication in ball screens AND lack of rotations (something I had given them love for during the preseason)
Not a huge fan of how much they deny passing lanes and give up backdoors
Just a personal preference
BALL MOVEMENT IS NON EXISTENT IN THE 1ST QUARTER
Not a fan of this brand of basketball and we have seen different/better through the preseason and first two regular season games
They have to stop throwing the ball right into defenders hands
HARRIS misses his first two 3PAs
And now a TO trying to attack the basket….aggressive but unproductive start to the game for him
Misses another wide open 3PA (this one off an Ivey drive and kick)
Interesting how much it looks like they are consciously trying to run the offense through, or at least TO, him in this 1st quarter
Not sure how much I am a fan of this many Harris isolations
Another really bad example as the Pistons have ALL the momentum in the 3rd and he gets an offensive foul
He has not been good on either end of the court
And I have given him some major credit for his defense so far
I will say, he has made some impact with his active hands
DUREN “gives up” back to back 3PMs to Horford
First one, Harris was top locking Tatum so Tatum just curled into Duren and Horford stepped behind (still got a contest)
Second one, I am not quite sure what was going on….he looked like he was trying to get Harris matched up with Horford so he could stay low man maybe???
There was a screen in on the weak side as well but NOBODY was getting through to get a quality closeout
His rim protection in general hasn’t taken a huge leap BUT I do think he has gotten much better with active hands on digs (gets one on Tatum mid 4th quarter)
Would be nice to see him be able to take advantage of these “mismatches” onto smaller players when they switch out
Whether that is scoring the ball OR drawing a double and passing out
There we go, mid 2nd Quarter he gets one on Brown
Finishing EVERY opportunity in the lane, efficiently!
Duren follows the Cade rim protection and ensuing lob dunk with a beautiful verticality contest of his own….
Led to wide open transition corner C&S 3PA (missed by Harris)
IVEY looks soooo explosive
Back to back paint pressures with positive results
Continues into 2nd half
Whether for him to score or create for teammates…when he makes the right decision
They flat out can NOT keep him out of the paint right now
HE IS RELENTLESS!!!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the play at 8:40 3rd quarter where he uses subtle off the ball relocation to get a head start to attack downhill on the catch
He is staying confident in the 3P jumper as well
The one off the screen at the end of the 1st half was pretty fluid and smooth
CADE continues to show MAJOR growth on the defensive end including a chase down block BUT….
The careless turnovers HAVE to stop at some point, this has been an issue since day one and eventually there has to be conscious effort from him to eliminate those ones in particular (3 in the first 15 minutes of the game and I am not sure any of them are being that aggressive)
SICK eye manipulation on the PnR pass at 4:00 1st quarter to Stew
9:00 2nd Quarter are the 3PAs I want to see him get more of, should be taking 3 or 4 of those a game
Off the ball, step in, rhythmic C&S attempts
Gets another later in the quarter from the corner, YES!
These makes, and even attempts, are getting him closeouts that he is not able to attack
Including the one to blow by Holiday and get the left hand poster
Physical drive and finish THROUGH Tatum, okay
11:00 4th is another GREAT decision, similar to the floater
Instead of forcing a tough shot against a contest he stops, plays on two, SHOT FAKE, pivot and MUCH EASIER attempt
Mid Post Isolation quick baseline spin again in this game
Defenders better start scouting that one
The defense, on and off ball, has continued to be VASTLY improved to where it’s at least neutral if not more
How about the weakside rim protection that paired with the transition lob to Duren
HOLLAND off to a good start tonight
Attacks closeout on his first catch and a great kickout to Fontecchio
And then finally gets a C&S 3PA to go down
Does not look like he is going to lack confidence at all (which I don’t mind) and he continues to stay aggressive
Love his rebounding
BEASLEY 3P shooting off the bounce has been more than what I realized he had but….
But that’s not the shot you want to have to rely on from very many possessions throughout a game (already taken 2 and a mid range in the first 12+ minutes)
With that said, GO CRAZY! Making some HUGE ones in the 4th quarter
THJ with some pretty nice on ball possessions to close out the half
FONTECCHIO, welcome to the party!
So good to see him being aggressive and almost forcing the issue
You can see the lack of hesitation with the jumper and that’s the way it should be for him
ELITE relocation at 9:07 4th on the Ivey drive as he hammers to the corner (great patience by Ivey as well)
STEW giving some really quality minutes and quite honestly, doesn’t even involve spacing the floor
7:10 4th he shows his defensive value when switched on White
Celtics
White, Brown, Tatum, Holiday, Horford
I LOVE the way they matchup
Even in this one they put Tatum on Duren so they can just switch any ball screen involved with him
Little bit concerning that they have had THIS much trouble staying in front of Cade and Ivey
Go ZONE after ATO, LOVE when teams do this because you know the opposing coach is normally drawing up an action they like and usually vs man
Next time they immediately trap Cade
Ball movement is sick, they just always keep you in rotation once they get you into rotation
I will NEVER complain with the AMOUNT of their 3PAs BUT I felt like in this game they got a little complacent where they weren’t putting in the same effort in the 2nd half to get the quality and rhythmic attempts
WHITE and HOLIDAY always doing the “little things”
WHITE is such an elite on the ball shot blocker (gets Ivey and Cade in this one)
HOLIDAY is quiet all game and then hits clutch back to back 3P late in the 4th when they were down 6
Followed by insane transition defensive possession where he strips both Ivey and Harris
TATUM is just flat out locked in right now
The jumper is so pure
This has to be the best he has played in his career, right?
KORNET passing always stands out to me
BROWN just works his way to the spot he wants to get to and then rises up over the contest in the mid range
PRITCHARD stays making 3P after 3P
Does this man miss? Wow. He is going to have a huge season with the amount of open looks this team will generate for him
HORFORD with simple hand activity has forced turnovers in 2 of the last 3 possessions
TILLMAN is just another weapon for them as a big that can keep the floor spaced
Gives the ability to play two bigs together as well
Thanks Bryce, what a fun game!