Pistons vs Phoenix Suns

Game Breakdown

*Special Situations*

• 10:15 1st quarter JI and JD combine for an AWESOME ball screen defensive possession

  • BOTH, BOTH! Have their hands in the pocket passing window which results in a steal and transition lob finish from Ivey to Duren

• 8:15 1st quarter JI not only makes a move around his man trying to box him out BUT fights the OREB away from Nurkic and then gets Duren cutting for the dunk

• 9:45 2nd quarter is quite the sequence for young Holland

  • Gets the transition chase down steal and then shows off what he has all season long with the transition attack and finish

  • 4 point swing in a game the Pistons are trying to keep their double digit lead

• Mid 2nd quarter the Suns finally get the lead below 10

  • Cade answers with mid range jumper, they get lucky with KD missing open 3PA and then Cade hits Ausar in dunker spot for a finish….really important answer here in the middle portion of the game

• The start of the 2nd half, along with the THJ bucket before halftime, is another one of these huge moments during the middle part of the game

  • Suns cut lead all the way to 3, it’s 5 starting the half, can they extend it back into double digits?

  • Ivey C&S 3PM off a GREAT short roll passing read from Duren

  • KD answers BUT Ivey answers with pull up 3PM of his own

  • Beal 3PM BUT Cade answers with that mid post baseline quick spin and LEFT HAND poster

  • Ivey forces a TO, THJ hits a corner 3P off a Cade eye manipulation and they have their double digit lead again

  • Can’t say the defense has been a huge part of this, offense is just matching what the Suns do

    • Continues

    • Suns cut it to 5 and Beasley hits a tough 3P off a screen

  • 6 POINT SWING end of the 3rd quarter

    • Pistons mess up a transition opportunity, Ivey with an AWESOME contest on KD 3PA and then Beasley gets a 3PM on ensuing possession

  • They have answered every Suns run with a bucket for the entire 2nd half thus far

• 7:45 3rd quarter is such an elite example of an NBA player understanding how to operate in the corner

  • Harris on a backup relocation C&S 3PM but what you want to take note of is how he stays on his toes from the start so his heals won’t hit the out of bounds line

• TO ME, THESE ABOVE MENTIONED SITUATIONS ARE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PISTONS PLAYING A CLOSE GAME LATE FROM AHEAD AS OPPOSED TO FROM BEHIND

• As much as I have complained about the Harris mid post isolations…..he comes up with a big bucket with Cade resting before the final stretch and the Suns cutting the lead to 5

  • Knocks down 2 FTs as well, these were a BIG 4 points in the Non Cade minutes

• Biggest offensive possession of the game they actually let Ivey initiate the offense and he makes a really nice play to Beasley for the 3PM

  • And then Cade ICES the game with a pull up 3PM over KD

Pistons

• Cade, Ivey, THJ, Harris, Duren

  • OFFENSE

    • JB continues to love ATO actions for the vets

  • DEFENSE

    • I absolutely LOVE that they are doing some more creative things with ball screen coverage including playing at the level and blitzing

• CADE taking the Durant matchup, I love it!! Let’s see how he holds up

  • 4:30 1st quarter is about as good as you can do it

    • Actually tags on the roller first and then has to closeout on Durant, stays in front and eventually forces the TO

  • Gives up back to back backdoors to Beal here mid 2nd quarter

    • Off the ball is the next step defensively, I don’t think he always values his positioning and at times has some wasted movement that contributes to being out of position (or relaxes for just a beat too long)

    • Also see a couple examples where he just gets a little too far off his man and then isn’t quite able to make the recovery contest

      • He isn’t an “elite NBA athlete” so positioning and anticipation are VITAL for him in these situations

  • Gets a short roll catch and finish!!

    • We talk about using other player (Ausar, in particular) in creative ways all the time but I think Cade has a skillset that you can do it with him also

    • Have started him OFF ball to get him ON ball multiple times early on and he does a great job reading the screens

      • 8:20 1st quarter the defender goes under so he simply steps behind and gets a clean look from 3P (misses)

      • I would love to see them use him like this more and more

  • 6:15 1st quarter he has a SICK secondary defender navigation dribble and tries to finish with some nuance but misses

    • Man, if he finishes out the at the rim stuff OR drawing fouls, that’s when the next leap would come

  • Feel like we have seen more of these half court explosive dunks already this year than the rest of his career

    • How many LEFT handed dunks did he have before this season…???

  • TO at 2:30 2nd quarter is just a miscalculation where I don’t think he gives the defender (Dunn) enough respect

    • It’s the correct passing read but he tries to throw the pass with his right hand instead of simply dropping it off with his left off the live dribble

  • He is really learning to combine his crossover with his physicality on drives

• IVEY seems to no longer be getting the primary defensive matchups like we saw earlier in the year (Jones, not Beal)

  • This has been an AWESOME start for him!!

  • 7:10 1st quarter the process is ELITE!! Doesn’t settle for a 3PA, jails the defender, gets into the middle of the lane where he can attack off the Duren “highway screen” (well done by him, btw) or kick to THJ for the 3PM

  • Defensively, I think there are two big areas of growth for him

    • Running into screens, he keeps playing BUT you are just so far behind when you hit them the way he does AND

    • Seems like he is involved in quite a bit of off ball miscommunication

      • Switches, low man, etc.

  • Shows the elite first step vs rookie Ryan Dunn here at the end of the 1st quarter

  • 1:40 1st quarter he not only throws the live dribble left hand pass BUT he puts it perfectly in Beasley shooting pocket

    • Love seeing that from him because he has struggle at times with putting his passes on target

  • Absolutely PHENOMENAL 1st quarter from him

    • IF, IF this is the type of process (the results won’t always be this efficient) you can get from him consistently…..that’s a lot closer to what this team needs as the 2nd guy next to Cade

    • BUT we immediately see the inconsistencies to start the 2nd quarter

  • I am not sure if the correlation is actually there, probably could do a statistical study somehow, but I feel like when he is THIS aggressive on the OREBs it is a direct indicator of his engagement, impact and production (maybe, even process?)

• THJ does try defensively, I think, but he simply can not stay in front of guys and especially not the higher tier athletes and scorers

  • Relocation at 9:00 1st quarter is just textbook stuff

  • Takes yet another charge and this one a tough one in transition vs Durant

  • Really nice start for him scoring the basketball

• DUREN gets a couple lob finishes to start the game and has had a couple nice ball screen defensive possessions

  • Maybe we will see the best version of him in this one!

  • Late getting to the level on a ball screen out high right after I type this

    • I just really did not think he would struggle this much playing at the level, blitzing, hedging ball screens….I thought his movement would be good enough to do this at least as a changeup to playing drop

  • Nice to see him hit that little floater in the lane, that would be a big shot for him out of ball screens and when he can’t just catch and dunk

  • 2 big FTMs from in an area he has struggled all year and the Suns try to “hack a Duren”

  • I don’t think this was some elite performance from him but I thought he was good, a solid performance to hopefully build on moving forward

• HARRIS almost never misses left or right, always seems to be front or back rim

• AUSAR foul trouble issues continue

  • We also continue to see examples of where he can overplay things at times that put him completely out of position

  • I like the on ball rep here towards the end of the 2nd quarter

    • They lower the level of the ball screen and he gets a 10 foot mid range pull up which I trust him to hit at a reasonable rate

• REED with another great example in the ball screen of how just getting your hands up can lead to disruption

  • HE DOES IT AGAIN!! And gets the payoff with the transition bucket

  • How about the lob pass to Fontecchio!!

  • Really nice two man game with Cade

    • Catches and immediately goes into hand off, then gets out quick into the short roll and hits the floater

• FONTECCHIO…..please, please, PLEASE stop trying to attack closeouts through traffic

  • Be a play finisher

    • C&S, the occasional cut/transition layup, maybe an OREB or two

  • YES, YES!!! End of the 3rd quarter is PERFECT process for him…LIVE right here Simone!

• BEASLEY with a couple really impactful defensive plays with active hands

  • This man just stays making shots

  • I really wonder where he ends up in 6MOTY voting if he does this all season long

Suns

• Jones, Beal, O’Neale, Durant, Nurkic

  • I just always get frustrated with how little the ball moves for this team…use your elite offensive talent to generate easier looks

    • When they do move the ball they find easy looks for their stars and I would bet the ball eventually finds it way to them

  • I often talk about how the Pistons defense doesn’t make offenses uncomfortable or take anything away….that’s also true for this Suns team

    • They are bottom 10 in both steals and blocks per game

• DURANT is ridiculous, I feel like I write the same things every time I watch the Suns play

  • Seems to be like you really are at the mercy of him simply making or missing these mid range pull ups

• JONES showing off the floater in the 1st quarter

  • Goodness, this has been elite

  • This continues to be a nice signing for them for the regular season but can’t help but wonder how it plays out for him in the playoffs

  • He has been AWESOME offensively

  • Insanely efficient all year long including the ASST:TO ratio

• NURKIC has been a little too much for the Pistons bigs physically, seems like he is just significantly stronger than both

  • They need him to be an elite play finisher and monster on the boards

  • Thrown a couple nice passes here in the 2nd quarter BUT has a NEGATIVE ASST:TO ratio so far this season

  • Seems like he does a nice job with his screen setting

• BEAL has actually had solid, but not spectacular, start to the season

  • Shooting over 50% from the field

  • Getting some big buckets here in the non Durant minutes

    • He has scored the ball extremely well in the 2nd quarter, not enough to bring them back because they can’t get stops

  • Has done a nice job with some of his off the ball movement, especially backdoors

• O’NEALE is SO QUICK getting that corner 3P off and shooting 47% from 3 overall on the season

  • 62% from the corners

• DUNN is the one guy that has shown that defensive disruption that I referenced above for them