Pistons vs Sacramento Kings

Game Breakdown

*Special Situations*

• Cut the lead below double digits with 4:30 to go in the half….can they keep it there or perhaps tighten the gap even more?

  • Monk tough drive and bucket on Harris (he, and THJ, have really struggled to stay with guys through all of these actions)

  • Tough Cade left hand finish

  • Cade gets the FT line with another baseline spin out of the mid post isolation

  • DeRozan answers with a bucket because of lack of matchup communication coming off FTs

  • Teams exchange misses before 2 Monk FTMs

  • Harris mid post isolation bucket

  • Ivey misses a wide open corner 3PA in transition that would have got the lead down to 6….get a stop….Harris misses 3PA….DeRozan nails a corner 3PM

  • Cade to Duren PnR finish

  • Cade misses a weakside rotation box out and Lyles continues his big half with a OREB putback

  • Monk BURIES a 3P from the top of the key off the dribble

  • THESE LAST HANDFUL OF POSSESSIONS ARE EXACTLY WHAT I ALWAYS TRY TO HIGHLIGHT AS HUGE IN GAME MOMENTS THAT SWING GAMES

    • Had a chance to get it to 6 TWICE with good looks from 3P line and instead it ended up being extended to 15

• SASSER inserted into the game, can he bring some energy to the court here at the end of the 3rd quarter to give them a chance in the 4th quarter?

  • Couple Beasley 3PMs, Sasser FC steal and assist to Reed gets some momentum BUT Kings are able to answer with a Fox tough bucket and FTM

  • Gives them the chance to make the Cade offensive sub at end of quarter but he isn’t able to pay it off

• DOWN 10 with 3:00 to go in the game….how do they get themselves back in the game to win???

  • Ausar with a HUGE OREB that gets a 2nd chance opportunity (REMEMBER THIS!).....Beasley hits a big time 3P off a nice BLOB ATO action

  • Duren with a REALLY nice isolation defensive possession vs DeRozan, this was impressive consider the scoring prowess of DeRozan and they left him on an island against him

    • THIS WAS HUGE!!!

  • Cade with ANOTHER left hand finish off the mid post isolation

  • Ivey with an AWESOME recovery on Fox to contest the mid range and force a miss

    • Duren also with a nice help off DeRozan to slow Fox down and allow Ivey to get back

  • Beasley with a ridiculous off screen 3PM

  • DeRozan scores on Harris….this is where teams lose the comeback, you HAVE to go right back down and answer this

  • BEASLEY!!!!! Makes it back to back to back

  • Get a Lyles miss and it should be noted they have not given up a single OREB in this final couple minute stretch

  • Fox with a SICK step back mid range make, he has been awesome in the 4th quarter

  • Ivey with a nice answer attacking off the step up screen from the SLOB ATO

    • JB continues to get the team into some nice actions out of timeouts

  • Two Huerter FTMs

  • SLOB ATO action doesn’t create a shot but IVEY!!!! with the one dribble side step 3PM WITH THE FOUL!!!

    • CADE CUNNINGHAM CELEBRATION ON THIS IS AMAZING!!!!!!!

    • BTW, you KNOW it’s a foul because Fox didn’t throw his hands up….he started pointing at the ground wanting it to not be a shooting foul, he KNEW he fouled

Pistons

• Cade, Ivey, THJ, Harris, Duren

  • OFFENSE

    • First action of the game is baseline staggered for THJ but he doesn’t settle, attacks the defense and hits Ivey on a really nice weakside relocation

    • Continue to see ATO actions where Ivey is the primary initiator of the action and Cade is off the ball

    • Feel like EVERYTHING in this 3rd quarter has missed short

  • DEFENSE

    • They are really struggling navigating OFF THE BALL screens right now

    • Seems like the Kings are getting right to the middle of the lane any time they want and then it comes down to whether they make the right decision/make the shot

      • Even as good as the Kings shooting % is right now I still feel like they have missed some really good looks

    • Miscommunications, on and off ball, continue to be a big area of growth for them throughout the rest of the season…..here, Ivey and Duren end up on the same side of the screen because they are playing the coverage differently giving a straight line drive to Fox

• IVEY continues to look comfortable playing off the ball

  • First play of the game he has a really nice off the ball relocation

  • MAN….how far has the jumper come for him, we are 28 games into this season and he’s right below 40% on over 5 attempts

  • When he isn’t playing too fast and just slows down a touch he is so hard to defend

    • Has had some legit change of direction moves in this 1st half

  • I actually think his defense has been solid so far

  • I absolutely LOVE when he is attacking the OREBs

• CADE on DeRozan to start the game, can he stay out of foul trouble???

  • There is 1 already less than 90 seconds into the game and they switch him onto Murray

  • Great process on his first attack of the game that gets him to the FT line

    • Plays with some start/stop AND sees the defenders hand over the top and goes up through it to draw the contact

    • The physicality growth on drives is substantial (look at the space he creates on this drive) along with left hand finishing

  • The EYE MANIPULATION he uses to hold defenders is so legit…you can see DeRozan just take a very subtle step backwards based on Cade’s eyes which keeps the lob to Duren open

  • Pull Up 3P off the ball screen is such a huge shot for him

    • Synergy has him at 39% on Dribble 3P so far this season

    • 33% last season, 31% his rookie season

    • The jab step to refuse the ball screen and then hit the dribble 3P around 4:15 1st quarter is a BIG TIME move

  • The scoring in the 1st half is his path to the higher level efficiency scoring

    • Has gotten to the FT line and made 3Ps

  • His passing right now is on another level, I know the raw assist numbers show it also but the “eye test” backs it up also….look at the anticipation (and trust) on this lob to Duren.

    • Already throwing the pass as he barely passes by his defender but Cade knows Len can’t recover once Duren gets even a step on him

  

  • Continue to feel like his ON BALL defense is very solid when he is locked in and his OFF BALL defense is inconsistent because he relaxes too often

    • The interesting thing is he has REALLY good closeouts, that’s where a lot of his best on the ball possessions start

  • I have been critical of his shot fake in the past but do feel like it has been more impactful this season

    • Not just to get shots off but also to create passing lanes…allows him to get pass to Duren at 6:30 in the 4th quarter

• REED hand activity is insane!!!

  • Continues to be so disruptive with it, it is truly something Duren should be taking notes on

  • His STOCKS per36 are kind of ridiculous….BY FAR the most on the team

  • Feel like you can count on one of those mid range jumpers per game

    • Adds a C&S 3PM to it in this one

• FONTECCHIO (and I am going to keep making note of it until he stops) neds to STOP trying to be a playmaker

  • KEEP IT SIMPLE

  • Does have a great on the ball possession vs Monk

• AUSAR could end up being REALLY good in that 6-10 feet range

  • We usually see the fade away jumper but in this game he plays with a little nuance footwork and finishes through contact

    • There is the fade away jumper!!!

  • Feel like he has to get use to being a little more “slithery” with his finishes

    • 9:00 2nd quarter he gets the PnR with Cade with Lyles waiting to take the charge where all he has to do is slide off one way or the other and it probably becomes an and-one

    • Don’t use that athleticism to score OVER defenders all the time, use it to score AROUND them when they have position

  • With that said, he is 5/17 (SMALL SAMPLE) on layups in the HC so far this season

    • He just has not been able to find the touch on these HC, non dunk, attempts

    • He was 59% in his rookie season

• DUREN dropping that DHO pass behind him continues to have a positive impact

  • Leads teammate right into their shot OR downhill attack

  • Continues to do a really nice job finishing these lobs with Cade, truly great chemistry and trust between the two

  • Has missed a couple of the short roll floaters in this game that would be HUGE for him to add to his finishing package out of the ball screen

• HARRIS defensive movement looks to be slowly decreasing as the season goes on

  • Tired legs? I know he is a big minutes guy that plays every game but maybe they need to start managing that a little?

  • The hands are awesome but he gives up a pretty straight line drive to Lyles in the 1st half off a PnP

  • 3P jumper continues to miss consistently short

• SASSER playing in his role that he can be most successful

  • C&S 3PAs, aggressive and disruptive point of attack defender….PLEASE, live in this world and thrive in it

Kings

• Fox, Monk, DeRozan, Murray, Len

  • They really put pressure on your defense with all the off the ball actions, zoom actions, DHOs and things that flow from one into the next

• MURRAY continues to take the toughest defensive matchups for this team

  • But he is struggling to really stay in front of and shut down Cade

  • I like him A LOT more as the guy who defends the 2nd best offensive player AND I think that would allow him to be more impactful on the offensive end

    • He is having career lows in almost every offensive category right now

  • Run a couple really nice zoom actions for him to start the game that he has capitalize on

  • I like them getting him involved offensively with something going to the rim

• DEROZAN is so crafty with how he attacks defenders

  • So strong playing through contact in those mid post isolations

  • He uses CONTACT to create SPACE

  • Does the “KD swipe through” on his euro step drive

• ELLIS is a player I really like

  • Good defensively and shoots the ball well from the 3P line, not quite sure why he doesn’t get more minutes

  • I like that they are subbing him in for Monk so quickly to start each half

• COLBY JONES with some nice 1st half minutes

  • Hits a little mid range jumper and then has an AWESOME low man rim contest on Beasley

• FOX distribution in the 1st half has been awesome

  • Continuously breaks down the defense and sprays to the open teammate

  • He is so good from 3-16 feet

    • Over 52% from both 3-10 an 10-16

  • And when the 3P shot is falling he is about impossible to defend

  • Able to play more physical on these drives than I probably give him credit for

    • Combined with the deceleration ability

  • He has been AWESOME and Detroit has not had an answer to slow him down

• LYLES with a very impactful 1st half off the bench, I always felt he got a bad rep with Pistons fans and was slightly better than he got credit for

  • Hits a couple 3P and then takes a charge on Ausar

    • And then another 3PM as the shot clock is going down

  • He has shot the 3P well for them so far this year and that’s about all the shot diet is for him

  • He is DESTROYING them right now

• MONK is just awesome

  • He has shown his offensive scoring ability in the 1st half but I also think his passing is so underrated and underappreciated

  • The finish at 5:00 4th quarter is just ridiculous

    • Ivey plays it about as good as you can and Monk switches to his left hand for a scoop finish in mid air

• LEN doesn’t do anything spectacular but he has his fingerprints involved in a few different ways

  • Set some really good screens and caused some havoc on the boards

  • Couple really nice passes out of the short roll

• HUERTER in a major shooting slump this season but based on his history you got to believe he eventually works himself out of it, felt like the shots he did get were good ones