Under the Hood - it’s time to see what’s really going on inside this Pistons team.
I’m not sure anything was firing on all cylinders last night for Detroit, and if we’re keeping up with the automobile industry puns, they needed to be towed out of Little Caesars Arena.
If there was a lone bright spot in this one, it was Ron Holland who continues to have an impressive start to his sophomore season.
First, he’s capable of making the “one more” pass, passing up a good shot for his teammate to get a great shot.
When Evan Mobley gives him too much room, he’s ready to shoot and drills the open three. Sometimes, standing still and offering spacing to your teammates is more important than cutting and possibly clogging the lane. That is something this team is still learning.
You can see his confidence growing as he looks to create his own shot more. This stepback mid-range jumper was nice.
And last, this move is sick. It’s a strong take to the rim with a crafty finish. I know Detroit fans like to talk about putting a 20-point per game scorer next to Cade, but perhaps we already have him?
I mean, jeez - it all was bad. I’m going to focus on showing possessions where the team did not properly space the floor.
A Cade and Duren pick-and-roll to start, but nobody is in the right corner. It looks like Duncan sees that the spacing is off and attempts to fill in the other side, but the action has already started and he gets caught inside. Even if Duren catches this pass, who’s he supposed to kick it out to with no one in the corner he’s looking at?
Again, this pocket pass is just a bad idea from Cade. There are too many Cavs defenders in the lane, but his teammates aren’t exactly giving him any other options to pass. Duncan is on the opposite wing, Javonte is for some reason jogging around inside the arc, and Ron at one point goes to set an off-ball screen for someone? Cade shouldn’t have made this pass to Stew, but his teammates didn’t make themselves available either.
Last, this drives me crazy. Ausar cuts at the exact same time Duren is rolling so his defender, Donovan Mitchell, is able to drop into position to defend two Detroit players at once. I know he struggles to shoot, but Ausar essentially helped Cleveland play defense. When this team has a bunch of players who like to score at the rim, spacing the floor isn’t always their top priority. It’s a hard ask of your point guard to read the pick-and-roll defense while also keeping an eye out for a weakside lob opportunity. Tobias ends up being the only one open with Duncan setting an off-ball screen.
Four guys inside the arc with only one outside - unacceptable spacing.
I turned the game off at some point in the middle of the third quarter. Did you turn it off early, or are you a true sicko that watched the whole game?