Pistons vs New York Knicks

Game Breakdown

*Special Situations*

• ***No Audio Today***

• Interesting….JB has a chance to sub Cade in at the end of the 1st quarter with a BLOB and a few seconds on the clock (something he has consistently done) and he chooses not to do

• Great 1st quarter going into the 2nd quarter up by 11…..can they keep the momentum or do they immediately give it back?

  • Try to run an action for Beasley (makes sense considering his 1st quarter) but defended well, OREB but Fontecchio tries to attack off the bounce and double dribbles

  • Payne attacks Fontecchio to his left and gets to the FT line

  • Cade misses a mid range and Bridges beats Holland on a backdoor for a layup

    • Not the start you wanted

  • Cade misses a pull up 3PA and Payne nails one off the dribble and Detroit has IMMEDIATELY lost all momentum they had after the 1st quarter

• Tie game mid 2nd quarter when Cade goes to the bench and the Knicks have taken control of the game with their comeback….can they manage these minutes?

  • Cade comes back in with 2 minutes to go in the quarter and Detroit is “only” down by 5

  • Immediate 5-0 run started by a Cade in and out move that got him to the rim for a layup

  • AND THEN…..Brunson draws his 4th foul with an and one bucket

  • Keep it within 4 going to halftime, you have given yourself a chance in the 2nd half

• WHAT A START TO THE 3RD QUARTER FROM CADE CUNNINGHAM!!!!!

  • This is insanely impressive considering everything that happened in the 1st half

  • Not to mention, you are on the road, in the Garden, against one of the best teams in the NBA

    • THESE are the types of moments that reinforce the type of player Cade is (whether they end up winning or not)

  • He goes to the bench with a little over 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter and up 7….can they even come close to keeping the lead???

    • Knicks only cut it to 5 (some big Sasser buckets)

• Knicks Broadcast with an interesting comment “.....playoff intensity in this one….”

  • I have consistently talked about data points throughout the season AND the type of data you can get from playing in the playin tournament or playoffs (and nothing replaces that) BUT even some of these regular season games against opponents like the Knicks are going to be played at a high level and give us some great information

    • And they will only get more high leverage down the stretch if Detroit is still in the hunt for seeding of some sort

• LATE GAME….4:40, Pistons up 5

  • Solid possession from Knicks, Cade forces a shot and misses

  • Duren gets switched onto Brunson and gives up the and one, Pistons up 2

    • Duren fouls out

  • THJ with two missed jumpers, Ausar had a ridiculous tip out OREB to get the second attempt

  • Brunson missed 3PA vs Stew

    • Detroit REALLY needs a bucket, seems like they are hanging on a by a thread

  • Cade goes right by Bridges and finishes at the rim, Pistons up 4

  • Brunson with a tough finish vs Stew, Pistons up 2

  • Cade SHAKES Anunoby and a tough finish in the lane, Pistons up 4

    • It doesn’t matter who is guarding him he is getting a bucket….look at the lane he creates with just the shimmy before he ever dribbles

  • Hart immediately answers in transition because that’s what he does, Pistons up 2

  • Ausar missed corner 3PA….Cade has Harris wide open in the other corner and probably should have made the pass to him

  • Ausar immediately makes up for it by forcing a TO on Brunson pass to KAT

  • JB goes offensive lineup and Cade gets 2 FTM, Pistons up 4

    • This being FTs allows JB to then go back to Ausar for defense

  • Knicks run empty side ball screen with Brunson-Bridges, Bridges 3PM, Pistons up 1

    • Pistons don’t want to switch Beasley onto Brunson so he hard hedges but Brunson strings it out forcing a LONG closeout to the Bridges pop

  • Cade short on a mid range jumper

    • Need a stop

  • KAT offensive foul

  • Knicks put two on Cade, you have to at this point, who gives up to THJ and he makes a nice drive and kick to Beasley for the relocation 3PM in the corner, Pistons up 4

  • Brunson with a SICK right hand finish over the Stew contest, Pistons up 2

  • RINSE AND REPEAT FROM ABOVE

    • THJ with the most unselfish of unselfish plays here, watch him use his shot fake to draw the rotating defender before making the pass to Beasley

• This team is 16-2 when entering the 4th quarter with the lead and move that to 17-2 tonight

  • Pretty impressive

Pistons

• Cade, THJ, Ausar, Harris, Duren

  • OFFENSE

    • Looks like they are going to put two on Cade every time there is any sort of ball screen….can he consistently make the right decision AND can everyone else finish plays out of that???

      • They kind of go away from this

    • Love the way they have pushed the pace and attacked in transition…often by Ausar

  • DEFENSE

    • More Pistons zone….go to it at the end of the 1st quarter and force a TO

    • Go to it again ATO mid 3rd quarter….and…..force a TO!!!

      • Next possession they force a no flow 3PA where the ball never got inside the 3P line before the shot

      • Have stayed in it for quite awhile in the 3rd

• AUSAR on Brunson is something I am really excited to see

  • Well, doesn’t look like that is going to be the matchup as Cade actually starts on him….will just have to settle for the possessions where switches happen

  • I was worried about him getting in foul trouble if he was on Brunson but he actually fouls digging on a Brunson drive from off the ball

  • Man, he can really drive transition but he just has to lock in with some of these passes

    • He is going to create soooo many open 3PAs for his teammates

      • Legit, he might be able to create 4 or 5 a game…and then what happens when defenses start playing to take this away….opens the lane for him to keep it and score

    • Has missed a couple layups though

    • SWEET spin move and layup in the HC

  • He is able to go grab rebounds that other guys simply aren’t capable of

    • Which also plays into how much he is going to be able to grab and go

  • Confident looking C&S 3PM in a huge moment here in the 2nd quarter

    • These are the type of momentum stopping buckets that can often go overlooked

• DUREN with a big time opportunity going up against KAT which has been an archetype that has been a major issue for him

  • Immediately gives up a foul closing out hard to KAT and leaving his feet which put him behind trying to defend the drive

    • He can’t defend him off the bounce without putting his hands on and draws his second foul early in the game

    • To be fair, he gets a downhill drive on Stew as well here at the end of the 1st quarter

    • He just flat out can’t guard him in the 1st half….it has been pretty bad

  • Doesn’t even put a hand up on KAT’s 2nd 3PA

  • Really nice short roll finish here early in the game

    • Knicks put two on Cade and Duren is able to catch, spin move and a nice finish….these are ones he hasn’t been great at but seeing improvement would be huge (can’t just dunk everything - Knicks broadcast actually comments on this later in the game when he kicks out an OREB because he didn’t feel comfortable with a little hook finish)

    • Has a nice pass to Holland on the baseline cut in the 2nd quarter

  • He has to stop completely turning his hips in ball screen coverage

    • Cade HAS to be better navigating this but you can’t just open your hips to the ball handler and they are in zone here but it doesn’t change how Duren should defend this particular action, IMO

• CADE reading things well so far

  • Passing out quick when they put two on him and the first time they drop he hits the pull up 3P

  • I just think asking him to ALSO guard Brunson is a tall task

  • One possession doesn’t make a defender (consistency hasn’t been as good recently) BUT this does show the two way capabilities he possesses

    • Hard to play Brunson much better than this and the point of attack defense allows Ausar to play aggressively in the passing lanes

  • Commits 2nd foul here in the 1st quarter but JB trusts him and leaves him in the game (this only lasts about 45 seconds)

    • Picks up his 3rd foul fairly early in the 2nd quarter and looks like JB is going to trust him at least for a bit

  • Rough 1st half with all the fouls and never getting it going offensively….how does he respond in the 2nd half considering he has the ridiculous foul trouble to deal with

    • How about walking into a C&S 3P and knocking it down and then knocking down a insanely difficult mid range fade away….gets blocked on below play and then comes right back with another C&S 3PM

    • EXACT, EXACT response you want to see from your star

  • Here is an example of where I feel like he has to have a better understanding of how disruptive these NBA defenders are

    • Absolutely works Bridges in the mid post but Bridges isn’t going to just give up on the play……just go to the reverse, there is nobody there

  • He is NASTY with that in and out dribble move

  • I MEAN…IF HE IS GOING TO HIT PULL 3P LIKE THIS THEN YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT IT

  • This is an absolutely sick split of the defense

• STEW timing on blocks is just ridiculous

  • And his first one leads directly to…….you guessed it, transition bucket

  • Left hand short roll catch and finish….okay!

  • What an isolation possession vs Brunson at the end of the 3rd quarter!

  • He has been AWESOME in this game but even he is slow on a KAT transition trail 3PM in the 4th quarter

• THJ just can not stay in front of the ball and Knicks are hunting him early with Brunson where he just doesn’t have a chance

  • See him attack a couple closeouts with his shooting gravity

  • CLUTCH ASSISTS

• BEASLEY comes in and immediately knocks down a 3P off the dribble

  • Wow, he is HOT to start this one

  • ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?? This transition make in the 1st quarter is unreal

  • CLUTCH 3PMs

• HARRIS finding a switch on Brunson and taking advantage of it

  • FTs on one possession and then on the next he draws the double and finds Beasley

  • He just has to get the jumper up!!! He almost never misses left or right or even long…almost always short because it’s flat

  • Back to back buckets in the 3rd quarter

  • He really struggles on closeouts, he just can’t change direction

  • The defensive rebounding impact is so real though

• HOLLAND with a really nice dump off to Stew here after an OREB

  • He starts making plays off the bounce consistently and he becomes even more intriguing

  • Wow…..what a drive and left hand finish in the HC

    • Then draws an offensive foul by simply denying the handoff from KAT to Brunson

  • Another tough move in the HC…..this kid man, so confident AND improving!!!

    • Just look at the lane he creates with the quick crossover

  • He’s got a little bit of work to do with his off the ball defensive engagement

    • Gives up backdoors a little bit too much, just don’t think he quite appreciates yet how good of cutters these guys are and how good of passers are on the other end

• FONTECCHIO first two attacks off the dribble are not ideal

  • Double dribble and then essentially a turnover with an unnecessary step back from the mid range

  • He does continue to make plays on the OREBs

• SASSER game has been pretty close to what I want to see

  • Caused some chaos at the point of attack defensively, took (but missed) C&S 3PA and then has gone to the floater a couple times

  • HUGE, HUGE buckets in some of the non Cade minutes

    • And then some creation!!!

  • Honestly, this is why you DON’T go add anyone to the roster from not until the deadline

    • Take away the opportunities for moments and games like this from him (and others, of course)

  • He did have a couple bad TOs….which is the counter to the above point….world where giving him these opportunities could end up costing you games as he learns and grows through them (again, same to be said for others like Ausar, Holland, etc.)

Knicks

• Brunson, Bridges, Hart, Anunoby, KAT

  • Interesting that TOs are again an issue to start this game like they were in the most recent matchup (6th in the NBA in TOV% on the season)

  • I just don’t think they make you uncomfortable defensively

    • Doesn’t seem like there are many deflections, steals, blocks, etc. and Detroit is able to run their offense pretty carefree where it comes down to if they are patient enough to get a good look and then if they make it

    • They aren’t dictating anything Detroit does

    • 2nd quarter it was a little better but think about the 3rd quarter….Detroit pretty much got the ball wherever they wanted whenever they wanted in the HC and transition

  • These guys have really locked in on their relocation off of Brunson drives, tough to defend

  • They have some really fun offensive possessions when the ball gets moving

    • Another great example of Bridges relocation (this one after he drives - see below)

  • I LOVE this lineup from Thibs (mostly joking here)

    • 3 SMALL guards in Payne - McBride - Shamet with 2 BIGS in Achiuwa - KAT

  • They have defended some of their consistent actions really well here in the 2nd quarter

    • Two that I recognize between the start of the quarter and ATO and New York doesn’t give up anything on either

  • Why have they gone away from putting two on Cade????

    • Make anyone else beat you on Detroit, right?

    • Not to mention, they don’t exactly have the best secondary playmakers

  • Do they struggle with zone in general? Seems like it has slowed them down in the possessions Detroit has gone to it in this game

• KAT is so tough to defend because not only can he shoot from the 3P line but he can also attack you off the bounce when you close out hard

  • The threat of BOTH of these is such a tough combination for opposing bigs to defend

    • Even taking Stew off the bounce

  • I know the ASST:TO ratio isn’t awesome but feel like the passing is better than I give him credit for sometimes

    • Especially when operating from that top of the key area

  • Defense has been much maligned but has a nice rotation verticality contest on Harris

• ANUNOBY on Cade is the matchup I would go to as well

  • Nevermind, it’s still Bridges (was just a switch)

    • Now they do go to him in the 3rd quarter after Cade really got it going

  • With his size it looks like he can definitely get two or three easy post catch and finishes per game when he gets the right mismatch, switch or cross match

• HART is just so good in transition

  • Makes him a real weapon considering how good of a rebounder he is as well

  • So good at drawing contact

  • He just does everything and is such an impactful player

    • Rebounds, passes, cuts….sets quality screens to force the switches onto Brunson that they want to attack

    • This is so important because he probably does draw the other teams “worse” defender most nights so they guy guarding him is who they would want to “hunt” to attack

  • He is so much fun to watch, just in the middle of everything

• BRIDGES with ELITE shooting relocation on this play even though he misses the shot

  • Have to give him credit…Cade has been extremely quiet in the 1st half

    • Doesn’t stay that way in the 3rd quarter

    • Or the 4th quarter….seems like he is at the center of a lot of Pistons buckets not BUT they are staying in that drop so it’s ALL on him to navigate that screen

  • Goodness, he is getting the C&S jumper off so quick

    • WOW!!! How far has he come with his jump shot after all the talk all offseason and to start this season

  • He has been a very good off the ball cutter as well and I feel like he is so fluid with the catch and shoot in the mid range off these cuts

• BRUNSON is just so good

  • Just works himself to exactly where he wants to be and he’s too strong for the defender to keep him from getting there

    • Not sure what the assist numbers are going to end up being but multiple examples where he gets himself to the middle of the lane and then finds the open shooter

  • Love the way he is just taking whatever presents itself on these drives…never gets sped up and never forces

  • Handle combined with shooting combined with strength combined with the deceleration

    • So much fun to watch

  • Draws so many offensive fouls, it’s amazing

  • Love that he is a good off the ball cutter also….so many true on the ball guys can’t do ANYTHING when they are off the ball and just stand

• SHAMET completely blows a weakside rotation off a strong side post double….is this a consistent issue with his off the ball defense?

• PAYNE just out here hoopin’ and getting buckets

  • Has pressured the lane, to his left of course, and then hits a pull up 3P

  • Over 40% from the 3P line on the season

  • Absolutely been the energy and difference maker as the Knicks make their push back into the game to start the 2nd quarter