Pistons vs Portland Trail Blazers

Game Breakdown

*Special Situations*

• We see yet another player get his chance in the starting lineup with the sickness for Ausar

  • Moore Jr., Ausar, Beasley

  • Will be interesting if JB actually does continue to switch it up OR if he and his staff see something they like, pinpoint it, and start to roll with that lineup

• Get down by 13 here early in the 2nd quarter without much offensive flow or defensive energy and resistance

  • Fontecchio forced off screen 3PA (rather this than something off the dribble)

  • Get a stop

  • Beasley missed 3PA, hasn’t got the jumper going so far tonight

  • Sharpe transition pull up 3PM and the lead extends

  • Beasley with another 3P miss

  • Simons with a good looking 3P jumper and this lead extends to 19!!!

  • Detroit is in trouble right now….what is the answer to get them back in the game?

    • Paul Reed minutes change the energy….???

    • Moore Jr. also gets some minutes

• Get down by 22 before the Cade FTs stop the 17-0 Blazers run

  • After a Reed missed jumper, Holland finds a way to grab the OREB and left handed finish

    • Sometimes….these are the plays that can get a run started

    • Follows it up with an on the ball steal and transition bucket forcing a Blazers timeout

    • Cade will get a lot of credit for the 2nd quarter comeback, rightfully so, but don’t forget THIS sequence from Holland

  • Can they continue to build some momentum ATO???

    • Get a stop followed by a Fontecchio banked in mid range jumper

    • Exchange empty possessions before Cade hits a pull up 3P

    • Harris' active hands force a TO and then Cade hits another one!!! And the Pistons are squarely back in this game

  • Blazers actually built the lead back up into double digits but half ends with two big Duren buckets to get it back below 10 going into halftime

• Down 7 and JB calls a timeout, they have expended A LOT of energy to get back in this game….do they have anything left here?

  • Run an action for Fontecchio that gets a good look but unable to convert

  • HUGE STEAL FROM SASSER (this is the type of defender he HAS to be) and then watch how Stew outruns Clingan for the OREB putback

    • Similar to Holland above, don’t forget the impact of this sequence

  • They end up taking the lead after this

• 3:10 4th Quarter, Tie Game

  • Duren with a nice help defensive play on Sharpe drive (Cade with solid point of attack defense) forces the TO

  • THJ with the shot fake into 3PM in transition

  • Simons makes ANOTHER ridiculous jump shot, mid range off the dribble

  • Duren with an AWESOME short roll pass to Harris in the dunker spot

  • Simons with the speed gets downhill past Duren for the high glass layup

  • Cade attacks but gets stuck on the baseline and blocked

  • Simons missed 3PA

  • Harris posting up gets Simons on the outside of him trying to deny and then makes a great pass to Beasley on the weak side

    • BIG TIME SHOT AFTER HE STRUGGLED ALL GAME LONG!!!!

  • Simons lob to Ayton cuts the lead back down to 2

  • Cade breaks down the defense, Ayton comes to contest the shot, Sharpe can’t get the box out on Duren and he gets the putback

  • Beasley does an awesome job denying Simons the ball and Avdija settles for 3PA from the top that is an air ball

  • Simons, wow!! Trying to his “Tyler Herro vs the Pistons” impersonation

  • BEASLEY!!! Forces the steal and CALLS GAME!!

Pistons

• Cade, Beasley, THJ, Harris, Duren

  • OFFENSE

    • Really nice action to start the game from JB and staff….double drag ball screen with THJ setting the first one which confuses the Blazers defenders and ends up with two on Cade….also running Beasley away from the weakside to clear out any potential off the ball help

    • They run the SAME action a few possessions later and this time Cade attacks off the ball screen with THJ holding his defender and Cade uses a sick fake pocket pass to freeze Ayton and get to the rim

    • How about JB being ready for the Blazers to go zone ATO here at the end of the 1st quarter!! Love it, runs a simple action but it works

    • Inject some defensive energy and all of a sudden the ball is moving and shots are falling offensively

    • Even though the shot is missed just look at the perfect flow of this possession where all 5 players touch the ball and how on target each one of the passes is

  • DEFENSE

    • Veterans in the starting lineup are going to have their hands full

      • Beasley on Simons and THJ on Sharpe

      • Listen, Simons had a huge game and Sharpe had stretches but I think these two veterans had about as good as you could expect defensive performances

    • They are giving up paint touch after paint touch here early in the game

    • Aggressiveness in the ball screen coverage continues to pay off

    • When this team is just causing the SLIGHTEST bit of disruption on this end of the court they are so, so much better

• CADE being defended by a quality young defender who plays with a ton of energy in Camara (it’s interesting how little he actually ends up being the primary defender throughout the game based on switch, transition matching, etc.)

  • He gives up a straight line drive to the rim from the corner here early in the game

    • Defense is still solid but I do feel like it has slipped a little bit over the past few weeks

    • Might be difficult to get that back considering the offensive usage is only going to go up with Ivey out

  • Gives up ANOTHER straight line drive from the top of the key to Avdija just a possession later

  • Another one to Scoot (he just misses)

    • He definitely hasn’t been the only one though (Stew, Harris, Holland all given up at least one as well)

  • 2nd quarter defense was VASTLY improved!!!

    • Great steal on Avdija here in the 3rd quarter, has definitely picked it up from the start of the game

  • REALLY nice right hand EXTENDED finish here in the 1st quarter

    • Also, notice the subtle in and out dribble to setup the defender before he uses the ball screen initially

  • Man, the growth with the pull up 3P is so impressive to see and such an important aspect to opening up his offensive game

    • He is at 42% on the year with these

    • No more going under ball screens on him

    • The confidence with it is unreal right now also…WOW!!!

  • That mid post game is tough to guard because he has so many moves he can go to

    • He has absolutely take over here mid 2nd quarter

  • He is absolutely TORCHING them right now

  • THE EYE MANIPULATION IS SICK!!!

    • Watch what he does to Scoot on this play

• BEASLEY misses his first couple 3PAs

  • Wow…..this has been an extremely rough shooting half for him

• THJ confidence with his jump shot is unwavering and he can seemingly get it off any time he wants

  • This is awesome at times (Heat OT win) but sometimes can be a little frustrating

  • Quick little first step on this early offense drive from the wing

  • Feel like he has been pretty locked in defensively tonight

  • What a game shooting the ball!!!

• HARRIS CORNER 3PM!!!

  • He is up over 43% on these attempts now and it’s over 50% of his 3P shot diet

  • Seems like he has a nice knack for cutting at the right time

• STEW has missed these first two 3PAs but I love seeing him take them again and without hesitation

• FONTECCHIO has to stop putting the ball on the floor

  • Nice sequence where he hits a mid range jumper off the glass and follows with a really nice off ball rotation steal

  • YES, SIMONE!!! C&S, C&S, C&S

  • The numbers aren’t crazy but I do feel like he has given great effort on the OREBs

  • Really nice defensive possession vs Avdija where he fights through the ball screen and gets a great contest on the shot

• REED continues to get his chance at rotations which I appreciate JB finding these minutes for him

• MOORE JR., I hate it so much for him, but just can’t take advantage of these opportunities

  • Misses two chances for buckets at the rim

• HOLLAND absolutely changed the energy of this game in the 2nd quarter

  • Comes in the game and guess what, gets a steal and converts it into FTs

  • How impactful has this kid been in his minutes!!!

    • Non box score OREB creates a second chance that results in a Fontecchio corner 3PM on ensuing BLOB

• DUREN with a nice finish here late in the half where didn’t connect perfectly on the lob

  • Has struggled to go ahead and finish these plays throughout the season

  • Not perfectly executed here but I love the idea of running the floor and setting the “highway screen” (or Gortat) for the Cade drive in transition

  • The ball handling, drive, etc. stuff has not looked good so far midway through the 3rd quarter

  • Gets Sharpe switched onto him and able to make them pay, THIS IS HUGE, he has to be able to do this

  • Some really big OREBs in the 4th quarter

    • MULTIPLE!!!!

• SASSER gets in on the defensive disruption with an on ball steal that leads to Holland transition finish

  • I love these 4th quarter minutes from him so far

Blazers

• Simons, Sharpe, Avdija, Camara, Ayton

  • Have yet to watch a game of theirs where they didn’t go to their zone fairly early

  • Probably have noticed them playing more zone than any other team I have watched

    • Not sure what the actual numbers say

• AYTON is a solid short roll partner for these guards, just not a big time lob threat

  • 47% on 2P jumpers

  • He just does nothing physical as a big man

  • The season rebounding averages look good but I don’t feel like you feel that presence and impact when watching the game

• AVDIJA is a really nice player, offers some versatility with his passing ability

  • His off the dribble numbers actually aren’t that great so far this year, especially when going left

  • Dribble 3P numbers are actually better than his C&S as well

• SIMONS is such a big time jump shooter off the bounce

  • Goodness, putting it fully on display

  • He is really fast and can use that to get downhill in a straight line

  • WOW….this has been an impressive display of jump shooting

• SHARPE is a guy some Pistons feel like might be a better fit than Ivey on this Detroit team

  • I think what we have seen this year is much more on ball, isolation and ball screens, and not a true off the ball bucket getter at this point in his career

  • That is a DIME of a pass to Ayton in the PnR to force the timeout in the 1st quarter

    • Another one a few possessions later

    • His passing has been pretty impressive in this game

  • There is a nice C&S 3PM in transition from Simons, would love to see him continue to make more and more of these

    • Less than 30% on C&S coming into the game

  • His on ball defense continues to be a concern

    • Not only does he not force THJ into the screen on the wing, he gives up the straight line drive away from it

  • Wow, he can really create separation off the bounce….impressive

• CAMARA continues to be a player that I am interested in

  • Plays extremely hard, rebounds, defends and just has to really iron out what the offensive role and impact is going to be

  • Has to consistently hit this exact corner 3P that he does in 3rd quarter off the Ayton short roll pass

    • Makes another one off a Scoot drive

    • Then has a baseline backdoor cut and dunk

  • Could really see him becoming one of these wings that just becomes elite playing along the baseline from corner to corner

    • C&S, attack a closeout, cuts, OREBs

• SCOOT continues to show an ability to get to the paint and to the rim, just struggling to convert into positive results

  • 26th percentile in shots at the rim and he is less than 1 PPP on drives going either direction

  • He and Clingan have shown some real PnR chemistry in the minutes I have seen

  • Man, he has made some poor passing decisions in this 1st half

• CLINGAN paint finishing has been rough all season and we see it in this game

  • Had the finish off the Scoot lob but has also missed 2 non dunks in the paint

  • I will say that he does a nice job keeping the ball high on these non lob catches and OREB putback opportunities

• MURRAY has scored the ball really well in this game which hasn’t been the case this year

  • This is a ridiculous “no dip” C&S 3PM