Pistons vs Denver Nuggets

Game Breakdown

*Special Situations*

• These are notes from watching the game live at the Arena so give me a little grace if I’m off here or there but I wanted to see how they would turn out for a game I watched live compared to on the computer where I can rewind, pause, etc…..Also, another good time to thank ALL OF YOU for your support of the substack!!!

• How does an official decide to call a lane violation?

  • Feel like players are ALWAYS violating BUT how does Duren do the same thing twice in a row?

• Much like the non Giannis minutes vs the Bucks, you HAVE to win the non Jokic minutes in this game

  • Up 2 to start the 2nd quarter when Jokic goes out

  • Tied 3.5 minutes into the quarter which means Detroit has lost these minutes by 2 points so far

  • End up winning these minutes by 2 points behind THJ corner 3PM and the Ausar isolation poster dunk

• Nuggets go on a run before half but a huge Ivey corner 3PM off a Cade pass cuts the lead to 6…..they need to build off this immediately upon starting the 2nd half

  • If they don’t figure out there ball screen defense I am not sure they can get enough stops to get back in the game

  • Jokic misses open 3PA but Ivey loses ball and turns it over

  • Murray gets free from Cade using off the ball screen and 3PM

  • Harris missed 3PA, Nuggets miss 2 and JB calls a timeout

  • I LOVE THIS TIMEOUT!!! They didn’t come out of halftime with the right mentality

  • Quick 4-0 run out of the timeout and Cade ALMOST has a steal and runout but can’t secure it (Jokic scores on ensuing possession)

  • Detroit can’t fully take control of the game because they continue to trade buckets

• Eventually the offense doesn’t hold up, the Nuggets find their energy behind Russ and completely take control of the game

• Looks like JB has pulled the plug here to start the 2nd quarter

  • This unit has forced Malone to put his starters back in to close the game out

  • Have played well enough that if not for a couple 3PMs and FTMs it could have gotten REALLY interesting

  • Even then, it’s down to 7 after a Holland 3PM

Pistons

• Cade, Ivey, THJ, Harris, Duren

  • OFFENSE

    • Zoom action for Cade to start the game

    • Early TO issues have snuck up on them they are down (up?) to 21st in the NBA in TOV% coming into this game

    • Nice SLOB ATO from JB to get into Spain PnR thay results in Harris corner 3PM

      • Feel like JB has continued to be successful in these situations

      • Another to start the 2nd quarter for Beasley 3PM

      • Love that they drew up a lob for Ausar after his poster dunk (wasn’t there though and Cade shouldn’t have thrown it)

      • Another nice action early in the 3rd quarter that gets Cade a floater working OFF the ball

    • I feel like the offense has generated really good looks so far in the game

  • DEFENSE

    • Very poor screen navigation to start the game AND we continue to see some off the off the ball miscommunication

    • Love the Ausar sub at end of 1st quarter and it pays off as he is able to hold up on the switch vs Jokic in a way Ivey wouldn’t have been

    • They are getting CARVED up in the ball screen

    • Pistons are 29th in the NBA in 3P% against and Denver is 7/15 here early in the 3rd quarter

    • Struggles continue into the 3rd quarter

      • Bad screen navigation, bad ball screen coverage, miscommunications

    • Example after example of poor screen navigation all game long from multiple defenders on and off the ball

• IVEY off to a really nice start with the floater and corner 3PM

  • He still gets a little too fast at times but the left hand cross court pass to the corner on the money at 10:00 2nd quarter is a big time pass AND he followed up the miss with an OREB

  • Still struggles at times with the accuracy of his passes…ATO skip to Beasley in the 2nd quarter takes a shot attempt away because it was too high

  • Continue to be amazed with the C&S 3P improvement this season

  • Has just been loose with the ball a few times tonight that resulted in unforced TOs

• DUREN slow recovering to the first two Jokic 3PAs and he knocks them both down

  • In fairness to him, Stew and Harris immediately make a mistake and give him another

• CADE HAS to be tighter with the ball when Russ is around, you have to know he isn’t giving up on the play

  • Has been relentless attacking the basket so far and has done so with plenty of success

  • Then starts to settle for 3PAs

    • I am always a fan of him shooting 3s but would have liked the process to be to continue to attack the paint

  • It’s been a rough defense game from him navigating screens

  • I think how short and flat he was on his jumper along with the rebounding numbers kind of speaks to where his legs/energy were for this game

• AUSAR with a beautiful drive and finish

  • I thought he was going to that 8 feet fade away jumper but he switched it up and swiped back the other way before finishing with the reverse

  • Isolation vs an athletic defender in Watson and he shakes him with cross before the poster dunk

  • He has all the makings of an elite defender BUT he isn’t there yet, continues to make mistakes (example, ball watching 6:00 3rd quarter and giving up Backdoor to Braun)

    • But the recovery ability can really make up for them

  • I like him taking the smaller Murray into the post

  • He has done some really nice things scoring the basketball and it’s been in a variety of ways

• BEASLEY stays hot and you can see it in the way he demands the ball and hunts attempts

  • Has also knocked down that floater a few times just to keep defenses honest

• REED looks to be back out of the rotation with Stew healthy and can’t help but feel for him after how he has played the past few games

  • Comes in, gets a deflection, it’s what he does

  • AND hits that patented mid range jumper

  • This man is DISRUPTIVE defensively

• STEW back to shooting 3P???

  • These fouls that directly give points to the other team have to get figured out

• HOLLAND pass won’t get remembered because the shot was missed but such a great transition attack and weak side kick around 9:15 2nd quarter

  • “Garbage” minutes but he is doing some nice things

  • Great on the ball possession vs Murray

  • Nice mid range pull up and even more impressive 3PM off movement

• FONTECCHIO bringing energy on the boards and has got some deflections but unable to knock down his first couple of attempts

  • I am not sure how playable he is right now……and I HATE saying that as someone who thought he had a great stretch for them post trade and was going to be an important rotation piece

• SASSER defensive disruption, yes please

Nuggets

• Murray, Braun, MPJ, Russ, Jokic

  • How does not having Russ come off the bench affect that unit even more??

• BRAUN really struggling to make shots in the month of December misses his first corner 3PA

• RUSS plays with so much energy

  • No more apparent than this stretch mid 3rd quarter where he energizes the crowd, draws a foul on Cade and technical on Stew

  • Definitely going to gamble defensively

  • Has missed some easy looks at the rim

  • Has had a couple really nice ball screen possessions playing with pace that has thrown the drop coverage big off balance

• MURRAY has been ROUGH on the defensive end to start the game

  • Has been awesome in the mid range to start the game

  • This has been one of the better scoring games I have personally watched from him this year

• JOKIC HOT from the 3P line to start the game just like he has been all year

  • He is massive in person and it’s so hard to navigate around his screens

  • You can’t have a smaller defender on him because he will just bury them under the basket

  • Absolutely destroys a Pistons possession in the 2nd quarter by calling out the action ahead of time

  • Man, if he asks for a challenge Michael Malone is going to challenge

    • He gets one right but the other is a complete backfire that results in a foul call on himself

• JORDAN still got plenty of bounce in those legs

  • I love his timeout routine where he does 30 seconds of movement to keep his legs warm

• STRAWTHER continues to be a huge piece for them as a scorer off the bench

  • Doing a nice job chasing Beasley off screens here in the 3rd quarter

• MPJ showing a lot more to his scoring package than the 3P shot

  • Curling off screens into the lane

  • Attacking closeouts

• WATSON has a long ways to go offensively but man you can see how he could be a playmaker on the defensive end