Pistons vs Toronto Raptors

Game Breakdown

*SPECIAL SITUATIONS*

• Huge momentum bucket right before the end of the 3rd quarter…can it carry over into the 4th?

  • Ivey pushes in transition and Sasser hits the corner C&S

  • Beasley follows this with a contested movement 3PM to start the quarter

  • Shead floater to go back up by 4 but Ivey gets 2 FTM and then pushes in transition and finds Beasley for a layup and its a tie ball game

• Sasser and Moore Jr. seem to have a little bit of chemistry AND are providing really valuable minutes

• They are going to somewhat get an opportunity in a situation I mention below, up 8 with 5:30 in the 4th and it would be nice to just extend to double digits and put the game away ATO

  • Get a stop and a Sasser breakdown of the defense but Harris misses the corner C&S 3PA

    • This would put you up 11 with ALL of the momentum and less than 5 minutes

  • Get ANOTHER stop and TWO good looks from 3P for Sasser and both go in and out….get yet another possession, Duren offensive foul

    • I realize you don’t make every open shot but if you make 2 of the 3 (keeping the offensive foul), and they were OPEN, you are up 14 very late in this game

  • When you give teams chances they often take advantage as Barrett gets downhill to his left and scores

  • Harris mid range jumper and Barrett with a HIGH glass finish in transition going to his left

    • Harris has been….not good….in this game OUTSIDE OF…he continues to REALLY rebound the basketball

  • Cade with a REALLY nice dribble move to create a driving lane and a nice finish

    • Back up 6

  • SASSER with an awesome weakside rotation steal and then takes it himself and scores in transition

    • Back up 8 and this is yet again a chance to put the game away NOW

  • Get a stop but Moore Jr. can’t hit the corner C&S 3PA off the Cade drive and kick

    • Again, I know you can’t make all of these but this would be an 11 point lead with 2 minutes to go in the game

  • Barrett drive and dump off to Poeltl followed by Mitchell ripping Sasser for a layup

    • Lead is down to 4

  • Pistons shot clock violation followed by Barrett drive and fouled, 2 FTM

    • 2 point lead with under a minute to play

  • Harris missed mid range pull up

    • Detroit HAS to find better offensive flow in these situations

  • Barrett with a great drive and weakside hammer pass to Dick who misses a WIDE OPEN look from 3P

  • Ivey 1 for 2 followed by Dick missed 3PA off the bounce and Duren makes 1 of 2 to close the game out

  • Never thought this team would get a W with Cade/Ivey being as inefficient from the field as they were in this one (10-34 overall and 3-14 from 3)

Pistons - 99 - 95 W

• Cade, Ivey, Beasley, Harris, Duren

  • Wasn’t the prettiest game, had to play some rotations we haven’t seen this season but they find a way to win and win a game late regardless of missed opportunities (and missed shots)

    • They are 2-0 in the NBA Cup and 6-8 on the season…at the end of the day, not sure you could have expected a whole lot more from this team in terms of raw W-L numbers

  • I think one of the biggest thing this team needs to “learn” moving forward and that I will be watching for is taking control, and keeping control, of games during the MIDDLE portion

    • Getting out to 10 points and then extending those leads to 20 points and putting teams away before the 4th quarter OR at the start of the 4th quarter

  • Mentioned this in the notes for last game when THJ went down but interested to see who takes those minutes

    • Holland first sub of the game for Ivey to continue the stagger

    • Looks like Moore Jr. is going to be the guy that gets pushed into the rotation

  • First action of the game is PnR with Duren BUT it looks like to me they were trying to get weakside to tag and get Beasley a lift 3&S 3PA

    • Stays with the trend of trying to get a vet going on the first possession and “works” as Beasley attacks a closeout and hits a pull up jumper

    • First ATO of the game is a mid post isolation for Harris…ends with weakside Holland 3PA (missed)

  • Mitchell and Shead present some unique point of attack defenders in this matchup for Cade and Ivey

  • As everyone has talked about the defense has been so much better than anticipated BUT a common mistake continues to be some of these “switch-not switch” situations

    • Better communication is needed with these which usually happens between two perimeter players

    • They are getting DESTROYED on the OREBs right now (Raptors are 2nd in the NBA) which we saw against another good OREB team in the Rockets

    • Continue to see multiple effort disruptions and specifically from Cade and Ivey which presents huge growth from those two

• CADE picks up where he left off from the 3P line last game with a C&S make on the 2nd possession of this one

  • Gets multiple C&S attempts throughout the game but just isn’t able to knock them down

  • First TO of the game is a couple minutes in and completely careless

    • This one is the EPITOME of the ones he HAS to eliminate, your primary guy turning it over is one thing but not when they are this nonchalant

  • And then he does it again, this has nothing to do with anything other than just be completely careless and not valuing the basketball

    • Don’t think he had another one until the start of the 2nd half but it is also a very nonchalant one

  • 8:00 1st we see yet ANOTHER example of him getting too attached to tagging the roll man and can’t recover to get a good closeout contest on the C&S 3PA on the skip pass

    • Gives up another to a guy who can ONLY shoot in Battle to start the 2nd quarter

  • AND through all of that he already has 5 assists in as many minutes to start the game

    • 4:15 2nd quarter I have to assume he uses elite eye manipulation because he moves Dick completely out of the way to get Beasley a corner C&S 3PA

  • I do think his handle, wiggle and ability to create separation from defenders is much better this season compared to his first three

• DUREN with a really nice short roll finish

  • The lob finishes are great but I do like seeing him be able to catch the short roll and find a way to score, doesn’t always have to be as “finesse” as a euro step but good to see nonetheless

  • He still has a lot of room for growth with his hand activity and placement when defending ball screens

    • Just watch the difference between him and Stew or if you get the chance someone like Jokic 

• HARRIS first two FGAs are “what are you doing?” worthy

  • He has looked completely out of sorts outside of the one 3PM

• HOLLAND with an AWESOME first on ball possession vs Barrett and forces the TO off his knee

  • What a block in transition on Barrett early 3rd quarter!!

  • Misses his first two 3PAs and the 2nd one is way off

    • He is not going to be shy or lack confidence with these

  • 2 OREBs that led DIRECTLY to 5 points here at the end of the 1st quarter

  • Really nice ball screen nuance and patience early 2nd quarter where he uses Stew screen, snakes back across and let’s Stew set the “highway screen” before finishing

  • BUT the HC issues are really starting to show up here

    • Misses ANOTHER WIDE OPEN corner C&S attempt (off Cade mid post spin move) and then attacks and throws a turnover on next possession

    • Followed by why you want to keep him on the floor because he plays so dang hard, chases a loose ball to the corner that leads to Beasley transition 3PM

  • I bet he has made 4 hustle plays in the first half alone that have directly led to 10+ points for his team

• BEASLEY first 3 FGAs are all mid range pull ups

  • Just don’t think this is the shot diet he should be living on

  • Doesn’t take his first purely off the catch attempt until start of the 2nd half 

    • Elite relocation and knocks it down

• MOORE JR. taking advantage of his minutes with 2 REALLY tough finishes

  • One in the HC and one in transition

  • How about him continuing to be a defensive playmaker, big time transition block

• IVEY defense continues to shine with a couple really nice contests (maybe both blocks?)

  • Has made a couple very nice passes in the 1st half

  • Overall, just been a little sped up and out of control in a way that I don’t think we have seen as much this season

• STEW with a PERFECT “highway screen” 10:23 2nd quarter for Holland layup

  • Another at 2:45 for Cade, these aren’t “assists” but they are “screen assists” (at least for me)

• THJ is so engaged on the bench in a game he is not even suited out for, love seeing this from the vet

Raptors

• Mitchell, Agbaji, Dick, Barrett, Poeltl

  • Raptors bigs have thrown a couple nice passes from the top of the key

    • Poeltl and Fernando

  • Could be the Pistons defense but they look like a very, very good cutting team

• POELTL doing a nice job of play finishing to start the game

  • Did a really nice job of this the last game I watched of them as well

  • Immediately working them over on the OREBs as well

    • He might have 4 already with a couple tip outs and at least 1 leading directly to a Barrett 3PM

  • He just works and works and works and keeps working

  • He has been awesome, maybe the most impactful player on the court

• BARRETT passing has stood out to me in every game I have watched this year

  • Slick behind the back pass that was 100% practical and on time and on target

  • Has done a nice job drawing fouls here in the 1st half

    • Averaging over 5 per game on the season

• DICK has had a really good season scoring the basketball and as we are seeing in the 1st quarter it is MUCH more than just 3P shooting

  • Which was his reputation coming into the NBA out of Kansas

  • He runs off soooo many screens throughout the game, you have to stay locked in as an off the ball defender