Under the Hood - it’s time to see what’s really going on inside this Pistons team.
Ime Udoka and the Houston Rockets sent plenty of double teams at Cade Cunningham last night, primarily in the second half. You can almost treat it as a sign of respect that your team has a player worthy of a double team, but it also highlights the team’s weakness of a lack of secondary creation. Cade was able to manage some good possessions off the Houston double-teams, but they were successful a few times, too.
To beat these double-teams off the wing, Cade will want to get the ball to the top of the key or to the middle of the court at the free throw line.
Firing on All Cylinders
In order to get the ball into the middle after a double-team, you need to make the pass or split the double-team to get it there. Cade’s capable of doing both.
Here, he sees enough room between the screen and Sengun to attack the paint, and he finds Duncan Robinson for an open three when the defense collapses.
Next, if splitting the pick-and-roll isn’t an option, you want to make the correct read to find the open man. If you’re getting doubled, that means somebody else is open, and Ausar was open on the roll so Cade found him for the assist.
In the above clip, you’ll notice the top of the key was wide open as well. Depending on what the rest of the court looks like, sometimes the roll won’t be open, but the pop will. Both Duren and Stew set screens on this next play, yet Cade is doubled and the roll isn’t open, so Cade finds Stew for a wide open three.
Also, sometimes you’re just better than everybody else on the court.
Transmission Trouble
Houston’s double-teams were also effective last night, and Cade wasn’t able to manage his way out of all of them.
Sometimes splitting the double-team is harder than it looks.
Sometimes Cade needs to be more accurate on his passes to the middle.
Sometimes he lets himself get trapped in difficult spots on the court, like how he has to avoid both the double-team and a backcourt violation here.
Sometimes the pop isn’t available, and you think you’ll have a teammate in the middle even though nobody’s there.
Cade has had a history of high-turnover games. They’re not all his fault, but there are certainly things he could do better to limit his number of turnovers.
Mechanic’s Note
If you’re looking for somewhere Detroit could improve already, look no further than free throws:
Game 1: 18-for-26 (69.2%)
Game 2: 15-for-23 (65.2%)
Season: 33-for-49 (67.3%)
They’ve played two games that have both been a scoring difference of four points, and Detroit left too many points at the line in each game. Some notable free throw statistics through two games:
Cade Cunningham: 10-for-15
Ausar Thompson: 1-for-5
Ron Holland: 9-for-10
Tobias Harris: 1-for-1
Gotta make your free throws!