Under the Hood - it’s time to see what’s really going on inside this Pistons team.
I’ve never made a Daniss Jenkins highlight reel before, but what a perfect time to do so.
We saw Daniss’ career-best play last night as he had 24 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and four steals. He had to play 34 minutes due to more than half the rotation sitting this one out, but he stepped up and nailed the (two) biggest shot(s) of the game to send it to overtime.
Let me make this clear: the Pistons do not win this game tonight if it wasn’t for Daniss Jenkins.
Yes, Cade had a 40-point triple double.
Yes, Cade is only the second player since Michael Jordan to have 40+ points, 10+ rebounds, 10+ assists, and 5+ steals in a game.
But, man - he missed SO MANY shots.
It felt like back in the day when it took Josh Smith 30 shots to get 30 points. Cade finished with 46 points on 45 shots, and he missed 31 field goal attempts - THIRTY-ONE!
Honestly, Cade should’ve had 60+ points in this one. He was letting everything fly with majority of the rotation sitting this one out, but he also missed so many bunnies at the rim that usually go in. Majority of his jumpers were short and hit the front rim, so it was clear he was gassed in this one. Take a look at his shot chart:
That’s a lot of red X’s!
Javonte Green deserves his own shoutout for his defensive play in overtime because he was everywhere. He didn’t shoot it well last night, but he had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. He also was only credited with two blocks, but I’m convinced he got a piece of CJ McCollum’s final shot as well.
Here’s the sequence that opened up overtime behind Javonte’s first block. What an effort by Jenkins to keep the ball in play and a great finish in transition by Cade.
This next block to me is the most impressive. He absolutely skies in the air to get a piece of Alex Sarr’s jump shot.
Again, he wasn’t credited with a block on this play, but he gave such great effort to provide help to contest CJ’s shot after he got Paul Reed in the air with a pump fake. In just a few seconds, he goes from in the paint helping Daniss to sprinting to the corner to help Paul.
Look at how jacked up he gets once Detroit settles with the rebound.