Pistons vs Boston Celtics

Game Breakdown

*Special Situations*

• A bench warning…..in the NBA, what are we doing here?

• TURNOVERS, TURNOVERS, TURNOVERS to start the game

• The offense has actually pulled it together enough to keep this from being a blowout but the defense can’t get enough stops to make it an actual game

  • Get it to 10 late in the 3rd quarter and then immediately springs back to 16

  • Had the ball and Duren on a roll but decides to go to Euro Step and turns it over instead of just aggressive downhill to the rim through contact

  • Hauser transition 3P play, Cade missed 3P, Stew gives up OREB, Hauser with a tough 3PM

• Get it within 8 here in the 4th quarter….can you get some stops?

  • Beasley gives up straight line drive and lob to Kornet for and one finish

  • Harris with a ridiculous 3PM off BLOB after a couple Detroit OREBs

  • Get a stop!!.....

  • Cade drive and blocked by Kornet

  • Get another stop!!...

  • Cade mid range jumper, down to 6 points

  • Beasley blows the switch (see below), forcing help and Brown gets fouled

    • Sasser and Beasley combine to not get a box on White outside the 3P line and Boston gets OREB off FT miss

    • Duren gets screened and Porzingis gets a bucket and it’s a three point possession almost solely off lack of defensive execution

  • Couple misses offensively and Ivey blows a weakside box out and the lead is back up to 12

• That is a GROSS, GROSS call on Duren “highway screen” right after this, every big in the NBA does that and they decide to call it there

  • I don’t often complain about officials but I HATE that call

• They somehow have this game in single digits late in the 4th quarter

  • Cade has had a really nice offensive stretch to get them here

  • Miraculously get a stop, run an action for Beasley ATO that is defended well but Harris comes through with a C&S 3PM and we have a 5 point game

  • Idk if he thought they were going to switch but Beasley gets hung up on an off ball screen and Pritchard gets wide open C&S 3PM

    • Beasley has been VERY bad defensively

Pistons

• Cade, Ivey, THJ, Harris, Duren

  • STILL PLENTY OF SEASON LEFT BUT IF I HAD TO SAY TODAY WHAT MY TWO BIGGEST NEEDS WERE FOR THIS TEAM MOVING FORWARD (ie. offseason) TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP

    • Priority 1: Wing BUCKET GETTER, like a real scorer that can get you 25

      • Which pushes Ivey to the 3rd option on offense and gives him even more energy to grow defensively (true with Cade defensively, as well)

      • UNLESS you are in the camp that Ausar or Holland can be this guy in the next 2-3 years

    • Priority 2: A starting caliber center (if Duren continues to play like what we have seen thus far)

      • I simply don’t think Stew is a starting caliber center, AWESOME backup, but not a starter

    • I know some would prioritize defense but I am willing to see how good Ausar and Holland can be on that end along with continued growth from Cade and Ivey + Stew

  • OFFENSE

    • Tried a backdoor lob play to Ivey to start the game which is interesting (wasn’t there and Cade didn’t throw it)

    • No team is going to take advantage of Holland’s lack of shooting better than the Celtics

      • Put Porzingis on him and just let him roam and rotate to rim protect against drives

    • It continues to be annoying to see them struggle with basic on the ball FC or 3/4 pressure…..

      • GIVE THE BALL TO IVEY AND LET HIM BLOW BY AND BREAKDOWN THE DEFENSE

      • If you don’t trust him to do this 3 or 4 times in a row (because that’s all it takes to get the defense to take it off) effectively then that’s concerning

      • Break structure for just a bit and let him be the athlete he is

  • DEFENSE

    • Interesting that they ARE hard hedging this game even though most of these hard hedges are just turning into switches

      • So, they end up switching a bunch of PnRs BUT the initial defender isn’t getting under the screener so he’s just rolling to the basket with an open lane and the switch guy on the high side

      • Just awful, awful execution

    • Celtics got them way spread out after hitting a bunch of 3s in the 1st quarter and now they are attacking them inside with PnR

    • The off ball rotations just can’t keep up with the way the Celtics move the ball and how quickly they make their decisions

  • ROTATIONS

    • Sasser getting early minutes

      • For the most part, I liked the process of how he played in those minutes also

• CADE taking the Brown matchup, I love it and am excited to see how he holds up

  • Brown draws an early foul which is the scary part of this matchup

    • Foul #2 a minute or so later after getting switched onto Porzingis

  • Doesn’t make the first one but I love the pull up 3PA off the ball screen, this IS a shot he has to be efficient with

  • These early turnovers are not necessarily “careless” ball handling ones, they are him dribbling into trouble and not able to make the right decision to get out of it

  • Nice to see him finish at the rim explosive like that in transition and it’s not nothing to finish over a guard like White when he is legit one of the best guard shot blockers in the NBA

    • You see that elite rim protection from White later in the half

  • It’s really just the turnovers with him at this point, I have seen everything else at a high level….we need to see an extended stretch of games where he can stay under AT LEAST 4 per game (and that feels like a somewhat low bar but it’s where we are at based on what we have seen thus far)

• DUREN, via Synergy, is………would love for you to try and guess before you answer (I will put the answer at the bottom of Duren’s notes)......what % on shots at the rim in the HC if you eliminate dunks???

  • Really nice highway screen in transition here mid 2nd quarter to get Ivey a bucket

  • Listen…..this is similar to the Cade TOs where you can understand them for awhile but at a certain point the sense of urgency to FIX IT has to change

    • You can’t lose Porzingis in transition for a trail 3PM, this isn’t some random big who surprises you with a jump shot….he’s one of the best floor spacing bigs in the game

      • Locate him early, have a sense of urgency and CLOSEOUT aggressive

      • I would rather he be getting beat off the bounce on these closeouts and trying to fix that then continue to be late recognizing it

      • Well, closes out hard and gets beat off the bounce late in the game….progress???

    • So, even the one to start the 2nd half….that is INSANELY deep shot from Porzingis but again, this is what he does, and Duren closes out with hands down and no sense of urgency

    • Also, I don’t think the next one is entirely his fault

      • His fault is not talking sooner BUT I think his idea is right that he wants to be the low man to help on potential drive from Brown vs Cade and have THJ be the weak side 2 vs 1 defender….I just think THJ is late realizing it and Duren is late communicating it

    • Want to give KU KHAHIL credit for saying this on Locked on Pistons but it does seem like there is a disconnect between the way HE wants to play offensively and the way the TEAM wants their bigs to play

      • Seems the team would rather have a rim running, lob catching, OREB (which he can do) but he wants to play with the ball in his hands and attack from the top of the key and grab and go and do all of that

      • Fwiw, I thought that might be the upside to his offensive game coming out of college

  • 50% and this matches the eye test where he just seems to struggle if he doesn’t have a direct path to a dunk

    • For reference, Stew is 74%

• HARRIS gives up a blow by to Brown

  • I don’t think it’s a lack of effort, he just straight up doesn’t have the movement ability to do it

  • Corner C&S 3PM!!!

  • Pretty good offensive game for him

    • I think this is the vision of what having a wing bucket getter is…obviously, that’s not him but what he is doing in this specific game

• SASSER C&S 3PM, you know I love these for him

  • And then the steal on the inbounds pass….YES!!! THIS is who he needs to be

  • 15 minutes a game…get 5 C&S 3PAs, maybe a attack a closeout for a floater AND just go be disruptive defensively

    • Pick up FC, jump a passing lane, take a charge, etc.

  • YES!!! Picks up at HC and gets a steal

    • Just be THIS guy

  • He’s not an on ball guy, they have to stop putting him in position to be a “primary creator” for his teammates

• HOLLAND point of attack defense is so much better than I even thought it would be as a rookie

  • Middle of the 1st quarter possession vs Pritchard is really impressive

  • Another one to start the 2nd quarter vs White where he forces the TO

  • If he is going to stay in the rotation then his entire 3P shot diet should be corner 3PAs

    • Not saying this is the only way he should be used offensively (obviously, it’s not) but in the HC when they need him to space he needs to continue to take those ones and see if he can find some consistency

  • Nice sequence where he forces another TO from Brown defending at the point of attack and then hits a wide open C&S 3P from Cade

• FONTECCHIO with a nice attack of a closeout

  • This is what these should look like if he is going to put the ball on the floor

  • Next time he puts it on the court he tries to do toooooo much and turns it over

    • Stay in your lane, know your role, excel in your role

  • Ill even take that mid range pull up jumper over him over dribbling/attacking

• BEASLEY continues to knock down 3P shot after 3P shot

  • Off screens and off movement

  • Such a good off ball relocator hunting those 3PAs off teammates drives

  • ELITE FLOOR SPACER

  • The defensive mistakes are quite rough

• IVEY has quietly had a nice first half offensively???

  • Just didn’t seem that involved in the offense

  • Feel like Beasley is attacking and handling off the bounce more than him

• STEW was pretty much a non factor offensively throughout the game AND gives up some OREBs to Kornet (this can’t happen for someone in his role)

Celtics

• White, Brown, Hauser, Horford, Porzingis

  • Do they have the most “spurtability” offense in the NBA??

    • 12-0 run in like 75 seconds early in this game

  • They are just so elite moving off the ball

    • Their floor spacers relocate around the 3P line, their slashers/cutters/bigs move/cut into the open spot in the lane….just really fun to watch tbh

  • Love the different ball screen combinations they can go to at any point

    • Especially when fully healthy

• PORZINGIS immediately shows off the rim protection

  • This archetype of big is my favorite, true stretch + rim protection

  • Love how he can immediately take advantages of teams that switch guards onto him

  • So, that’s the issue he presents….

    • He can PnP but if the defense switches to take that away he can also post the mismatch

  • He has made a couple REALLY nice passes to start the game as well

• BROWN is such a physical downhill driver

  • It will be interesting to track if the shooting %s start to trend upward at some point

  • He is getting downhill over and over and over

    • He makes some mistakes, especially going left, but he is going to pressure your defense

  • He has completely controlled this game offensively and gotten himself and his team whatever he wants

• PRITCHARD is awesome, flat out awesome

  • I think he would probably be my vote for 6MOTY right now

  • I know he missed this one but I am not sure there is a player I trust more for an end of the quarter heave either (other than Steph, of course)

  • Has been impactful defensively as well

• HORFORD is awesome

  • Love that he is still producing on both ends of the court at age 38

• HAUSER is such an elite 8th option for a team offensively