Pistons vs Utah Jazz

Game Breakdown

*Special Situations*

• Get the game within 6 with 3:00 in the 1st half, you have to close out this 2nd quarter comeback

  • Cade gives up a straight line drive to George who puts a poster on Duren

    • Cade ABSOLUTELY has to be better but this is where you hope your big man can protect the rim vs a guard the size of George

  • Cade miss, Sexton bucket and it’s right back to double digits

  • Kessler block after a nice short roll pass from Duren to Harris….George hits a sick step back 3P

  • End up going into halftime down 13 after a mostly good 2nd quarter to get back into the game

  • Give up a 3PM to start the 2nd half and now it’s 16 and another one to make it 19

    • Fwiw, neither of these plays involved THJ or Duren

• Get the game within 6 with 10:00 in the 2nd half, do we get the same result as the 1st half?

  • Sexton pull up 3PM over Fontecchio

  • Cade mid range answers

  • Sexton hunts Fontecchio, breaks him down off the bounce and hits Eubanks in the dunker for a finish

  • Trade 3PAs

  • Harris misses a wide open 3PA

  • Reed with a great transition run and finish

  • Sexton with a big time 3PM out of the timeout over THJ

  • Beasley matches with a 3PM on a designed action from JB

  • George with a nice off screen 3P read and make (Beasley tries to meet him over the top and can’t get back)

    • This is the version of George that I assume continues to have Utah excited about the possibility of him

  • Teams exchange empty possessions but Sexton comes up with a loose ball and BIG TIME pass to Juzang on the wing who makes the 3P

    • Juzang has shot the ball very well for them from the 3P line

• Interesting decision to go SMALL ATO here late in the game with Ausar at the 5, they get a miss but Kessler gets OREB

  • Does end up being a fun Cade and Ausar stretch here as they try to make one final push

  • This probably does end up being the right decision to try and get back in the game, just cause as much chaos and havoc as you can and see what happens

  • Almost works but Collins hits a CLUTCH, CLUTCH corner 3P

    • And then George ices it

Pistons

• Cade, THJ, Ausar, Harris, Duren

  • OFFENSE

    • First action of the game for THJ, JB has pretty consistently tried to get him, Beasley, Harris shots in these types of situations so far this season….THJ pays this one off with a make

    • Cade-Ausar PnR, YES PLEASE!!!

    • I don’t like the lineup (or perhaps strategy is better word) at the end of the 1st quarter offensively…I realize you are short handed without Ivey BUT as someone who is still in the “let’s see what this guy can do” mode…play Ausar as the primary creator here or play through Holland but asking Sasser and Beasley to create off the bounce in the HC wouldn’t be my answer in non Cade (no Ivey) minutes

      • Similar to what they do early in the 3rd quarter where they let Ausar run the Spain PnR (ends with Duren OREB dunk)

  • DEFENSE

    • So, I am watching this Friday morning having known what happens in the game and I have to say…..the defense hasn’t been bad in the first 3 minutes, Utah is just making shots

      • And fwiw, a couple of the shots so far is Ausar getting hung up on off ball screens

      • THJ ill advised shot leads to George 3PM

      • Multiple transition buckets that have been given up have been a result of “bad” offense

    • My biggest thing is the defense just doesn’t take anything away from the offense or make them uncomfortable in some way….offenses look SOOO comfortable on every shot attempt

      • And when you never make them uncomfortable and they get in a flow early they make shots like what we are seeing through the first six minutes of the game

      • Beasley and THJ are great examples of this, they can’t get up in guys because if they do they will get blown by and they don’t have great length so they don’t put a ton of pressure on the jump shot contest

      • Perfect example, Holland first possession he pressures starting at HC and forces Clarkson into a carry and TO and there are plenty more in the 2nd quarter

      • It is funny that they did end up forcing them into 27 turnovers (only 3 in the 1st quarter) for the game (Utah is the worst TO team in the NBA) but still gave up 126 points

    • So, I assume this is on Sasser but Utah has gotten 3 straight FC outlet passes and buckets….I am assuming he is supposed to be the safety, I know for sure on two of these he was at the top of the key when the Pistons shot attempt went up

• CADE on Lauri will be a VERY interesting matchup

  • Has that baseline spin out of the mid post down pat….scoring (or getting fouled at the rim) continues to be the next area of growth

    • This one gets blocked by Lauri (who was guarding Ausar on the weakside on this particular possession)

    • He is so casual on some of these finishes

      • 6:40 1st quarter, he gets by Kessler but you HAVE to know that he is following from behind to contest this shot

        • Reverse, decelerate and draw contact, something but you can’t just casually do a “layup line” right hand layup

    • Should be noted that when he does show a more deliberate finish in terms of nuance he finds success

    • Love how much he has improved playing through and initiating contact on his drives this season

  • Switch to the left hand for the dunk!!! Okay

    • Should be noted that Ausar DUNKER SPOT gravity held Kessler just enough on this finish (WAY DIFFERENT THAN HIM BEING IN THE CORNER)

  • Love seeing where he is at with the 3P shot right now

    • This game also perfectly highlights what this does for his off the bounce game

    • Two different times he completely loses a defender with a beautiful left hand hesitation at the 3P line because the defender thought he was going to pull up

• AUSAR first move of the game is what he HAS to be offensively until the 3P shot truly comes around

  • And I think he can, we have seen him be successful in that range (this one was with his left) but if they are going to play centers on him then he attacks them and then has to score 6-8 feet

  • I LOVE the offensive mindset so far

  • HE HAS, HAS TO FIGURE OUT THIS FOUL STUFF

    • He is OVER 6 per 36 minutes right now (was at 4 last season, fwiw)

• DUREN defensive struggles are consistently discussed and rightfully so BUT…..I am really nervous about his play finishing when it’s not a lob or OREB putback

  • He doesn’t seem to have that same explosion when there is a little bit of a crowd or he has to pivot or out of the dunker

  • I actually don’t think he is to blame for this 1st quarter defensive showing BUT it is noteworthy that I have barely noticed his presence on the court at all

    • Immediately after typing this gives up a pocket pass and finish on PnR

  • HERE IS THE DIFFERENCE

    • It is against the 2nd unit BUT Reed has forced 2 turnovers in the last few minutes by simply reading the passers eyes and putting his hands straight above his head….seems so simple but doing it makes an impact

  • There is a nice lob contest that leads directly to offensive transition

• HARRIS continues to get really good looks from the perimeter and still not knocking them down at a good enough rate

  • Gets a couple mid range to go down

  • I was really thinking this team would at least get “regular season Tobias Harris” but that simply has not been the case so far

• FONTECCHIO with another rough start

  • Him dribbling into a crowd should never happen, just stay in your role

  • There you go, go make an impact on the OREBs!

  • Another rough performance from him

    • They are HUNTING him defensively in the 4th quarter with Sexton

• HOLLAND definitely makes his presence felt on the defensive end

  • I think the case down lob contest is even more impressive than some of things he does at the point of attack

  • I was wrong about the defense, it is better than I thought it was going to be this early in his career!!!

    • I knew he was good but I didn’t think he would be this impactful

  • The kid plays with an attitude, I love it!

• REED with a couple really nice plays out of the ball screen

  • Catch and reverse finish, catch and passing read for wide open Beasley 3PA

  • Some awesome minutes from him to start the 2nd quarter!!!

    • Very active on the OREBs and then just using his length defensively has led to some disruption

  • Continues to make an impact on the OREBs AND and active hands that lead to disruption

  • Now, to be fair (just like I try to be with Stew), he has given up some OREBs to Kessler just like Duren

  • He also has some of that finesse finishing around the rim that Duren could really use when he can’t just dunk

  • Hasn’t shown anything that would make me believe he has real chance to be a legit floor spacer with gravity

• SASSER being asked to play the role I don’t think he should here at the end of the 1st quarter

• THJ just flat out can’t stay in front of anyone

Jazz

• George, Sexton, Markkanen, Collins, Kessler

  • Jazz putting Kessler on Ausar so he can roam and protect the rim off the ball

  • I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HIS TIMEOUT TO START THE 2ND QUARTER

    • His team has 30 point lead but gives up a FT OREB and 3PM and he calls it less than 30 seconds into the quarter

    • And then calls another one 60 seconds later, I am not sure if it is working BUT I love that he is doing it

  • This Utah 2nd unit is rough, probably what you would expect for a team in their situation

    • It’s too bad they have had the injuries to some of their young players who could be getting these minutes (Hendricks, Williams)

  • Feel like Kessler and Lauri have been made quite a few impactful plays defensively around the rim, lots of size between those two

• COLLINS has been SO GOOD this year scoring the ball

  • I am fascinated to see what his value could be at the deadline assuming Utah does want to move him

• LAURI with an AWESOME low man block on Cade, not a guy who has blocked a lot of shots this year

  • Already 2nd all time in 3PM by a 7’ behind only Dirk

  • He might be the best player in the league going backdoor vs the “top lock”

  • Always come away impressed with versatility of his scoring

  • Multiple off the ball impact plays defensively

• GEORGE can ABSOLUTELY fill it up when he gets it going

  • He just has not proven in his career to be able to do it consistently efficient

  • OKAY!!! Shows some off some big time bounce

• SENSABAUGH has been a bucket this season, good for him for taking advantage of these minutes coming off the injury

• SEXTON has done a really nice job pressuring the rim

  • Okay, shows off some bounce with reverse alley oop finish as well

• KESSLER has had a really good game

  • Doesn’t offer a lot of upside as a big man but protects the rim and rebounds the ball at a really good level