Pistons vs Milwaukee Bucks

Game Breakdown

*Special Situations*

• 18 - 14 Pistons midway 1st quarter, momentum, get a stop, go in transition and….Harris misses

  • These seem so small but I bet a make there forces a Bucks Timeout, instead….

  • Dame breaks down the defense and Prince gets a C&S 3PM

    • NEVER FAILS…missed layup = 3PM on the other end

  • 5 point swing including momentum

• Need a GREAT start to the 2nd quarter

  • Ivey missed layup followed by transition side dribble 3PM from Trent Jr.

  • Ivey missed mid range but really nice defensive stop leads to Beasley transition dunk

    • Have to build on this (we are also in the non Giannis minutes)

  • Another stop and Cade mid range make gets the lead down to 4

  • Stew slow getting to Portis and gives up 3PM

  • Holland forces TO but Cade misses pull up 3PA

  • Stew gives up OREB, Holland gives up a backdoor to Portis and Green knocks down a C&S 3P

    • The defensive mistakes are not solely falling on one person’s shoulders right now

  • I think Detroit had an opportunity to really take control of the game here by tying it up or taking the lead but just didn’t make the plays that were available to them

• Cut lead to 6 late 2nd quarter…..YOU HAVE TO KEEP THIS MOMENTUM

  • Miscommunication between Beasley and Ausar leads to wide open 3PM from Prince

    • Continue to emphasize that the defensive breakdowns have come from EVERYONE on the roster

  • Missed shot and then Cade gets caught too far off Prince in the corner and he has back to back 3PMs

    • Immediately goes to 12

    • I mentioned in the preview how good Pistons would have to be as off the ball defenders on guys like Prince, Green and Trent Jr.

  • Add a couple TOs and some more 3PMs and this game has turned into a blowout

Pistons

• Cade, Ivey, THJ, Harris, Duren

  • I believe this game just shows, and is a good reminder, how far this team still has to go and that’s okay (at least for me, for now) as long as they continue to overall show what we have seen through 23 games

    • On pace for exactly 32 wins (that would be an 18 win improvement) even after this loss

    • With that said, this is back to back rough performances and they have a back to back on Wednesday…would be great to see them find a way to pull out a Win

    • AND more importantly to me, see the defense get back on good ground

  • I like the first action of the game again which is a zoom type action for Cade

    • Gets THJ an open wing C&S 3PA, he misses BUT good offense often leads to OREB (Duren putback)

    • I have said my peace about Harris post ups BUT attacking Green here is something I am okay with and it does draw the double BUT the other 4 players just stand, they have to relocate/cut to open windows and take advantage of the defense being in rotation

    • AUSAR IN THE SCREEN AND ROLL!!! Love it!!!

    • 8:30 4th quarter is an OFF BALL action for Cade and he knocks down the 3P off the screen

      • Love seeing this

  • Bucks start off the game with full court pressure, we have seen teams disrupt the Pistons offense with this in previous games so I am not surprised they went to it

  • 8:30 1st quarter is AWESOME defensive possession with Duren playing well on Giannis at the point of attack, THJ timing up the double and the rotation behind him being ready

    • Execute this to perfection again in the 2nd quarter

    • Okay, I know I mentioned playing off Jackson Jr. BUT a couple of these they didn’t even get matched up with him in transition

    • With that said, I am still letting him take those….just wish it was in a context where the team was at least matched up

    • Dame is far too comfortable right now, you have to put Ausar on him to disrupt his rhythm and flow a little bit

      • Even Holland here to start the 2nd quarter you can see has messed with his flow a bit

      • No hard hedge???

    • Start of the 2nd quarter defense was okay BUT the last two minutes have been as about as bad as we have seen

      • MULTIPLE, MULTIPLE players at fault

    • These bigs have to learn to close out with a HAND UP on these floor spacing bigs and make them put the ball on the floor….take away what they do best

    • I think my biggest takeaway from this first half defensively is that we have rightfully given this team credit for being SOLID defensively but they do not have any elite defenders or guys that can really DISRUPT the offensive flow, Milwaukee was comfortable all half long

      • Ausar and Holland are probably the most likely guys to do this long term

  • Holland and Ausar continue to stagger these minutes in the 2nd unit keeping them from being on the court together

• DUREN on Giannis (Harris on Lopez)

  • Still not a fan of this because of the foul trouble, we will see if it happens again

    • So, is this more about Lopez than Giannis??? because with Fontecchio/Stew on the court with Portis/Lopez the matchups are Fontecchio on Lopez and Stew on Portis

    • In fairness, Lopez didn’t have a big night

  • Foul 2 minutes into the game AND back to back drives where Duren wasn’t really able to hold up in isolation drive attempts from Giannis

    • I just flat out disagree going with this matchup again

    • Will admit, next couple of possessions are better but in general he just doesn’t move well enough to stay in front of him anyway

    • 2nd foul doesn’t happen until about 5:00 1st quarter where he was probably close to subbing out anyway but now we need to watch for when he gets his 3rd

      • 6:00 2nd quarter

      • 4th early in the 2nd half

  • Great hustle on the transition block on Jackson Jr. (and good challenge by JB)

  • Heck of a start to the game offensively for him

    • The step through and soft touch floater was an impressive finish

• CADE gets blocked early in the game

  • Had it in the preview that it was VITAL he navigated the rim protection of Lopez and Giannis

    • Seen him struggle with that a couple times in the 1st half

  • Overall, the scoring process hasn’t been bad other than the missed FTs

  • I just don’t understand how the handle can be so tight sometimes to lose defenders and then so careless other times where he just loses the ball

    • The carelessness of his TOs has to improve…have given him a lot of love for his improvements elsewhere and have been patient with maybe this being a early season thing but we are 20+ games in….the time for ELIMINATING THESE IS NOW

    • To me, it's a mindset

  • Has been aggressive to the rim

    • Mid post game has been effective, spin move as well

• THJ with a couple makes to start the game is a welcome sight

  • Has had some nice attacks of the basket

• AUSAR making his presence felt with a nice on ball defensive possession and an OREB that leads directly to Cade C&S 3PM

  • Continue to see the flashes of creation, 2:50 1st quarter crosses his man to get downhill and finds Harris for wide open 3PA

  • I like the idea but man, there are going to be some growing pains with hit

• HARRIS…….GET THE JUMPER UP!!!! IT IS FLAT, EVERY TIME

  • Someone, please tell him

  • 2nd quarter perfect example, follow through is up and not out and it’s BUCKETS!

  • Scoring the ball extremely well now through the first half of this game

  • Continues flashing those active hands defensively

  • Honestly, has ended up being one of his more productive games

• IVEY defensive consistency is the next thing that must come

  • Completely dies on a ball screen at the end of the 1st quarter that gives Trent Jr. an easy mid range jumper

    • We have seen the second effort from him too much in these situations for him to revert back to this

  • Have disliked his offensive process tonight though either (similar to Cade)

• STEW, as much credit was we give him, closes out short to these floor stretching bigs at times as well

  • His short roll consistency, whether scoring or passing, has to continue to get better

  • ESPECIALLY if he is never going to PnP anymore

Bucks

• Dame, Jackson Jr., Prince, Giannis, Lopez

  • Their ball movement and offensive flow looks really good right now

  • Giannis-Dame inverted ball screen with Dame ghosting is such a nasty action to defend for a defense

• DAME looks GOOD to start the game

  • Knocks down two highly contested mid range jumpers but makes it look easy

  • He is just far too comfortable right now

  • He is so good, so good

  • Unreal shooting performance from him

    • Even his an elite off ball relocation corner 3P to go with the pull up jumpers

• JACKSON JR. really hounding Cade full court

  • What was he doing on the FT check out at the end of the 1st quarter???

  • His defense is going to be VERY important for them

• PRINCE 54% from 3 right now, just been an insane addition for them this offseason being able to knock down shots at that rate

• PORTIS is a player I always seem to be higher on than others

  • Love that they can play through him in the mid post at times in the HC

• GIANNIS continues to make that mid range jumper, unreal

  • This is just automatic now???

    • Will be interesting how this changes the game plan for defenders

  • Not really sure how you defend him when he is so physical at you but then you often get called for a foul when trying to be physical back

  • To go along with all of his points he has 9 fouls drawn in the 3rd quarter

• LOPEZ already showing the impact he has as a rim protector

  • The behind the head touch pass to Prince was actually pretty freakin elite passing

• TRENT JR. making shots like this just changes so much for them offensively

  • Especially when you consider Prince and Green you are getting some high level floor spacing from your role players

• GREEN can flat out shoot that thing AND he holds up better defensively than I expected