Jaden Ivey’s MASSIVE Comeback Starts NOW! 💯

Jaden Ivey’s MASSIVE Comeback Starts NOW! 💯

Total Smith here. Make sure y’all subscribe to my boy Downtown Deuce ASAP. Come on, man. Jaden Ivy. Jaden Ivy had seven points on 205 shooting, one of one from three, two from the free throw line, three turnovers, one assists in 14 minutes. So Sarah, thoughts on Jaden tonight? All right, so he started off slow. Uh, expect it. Would have been absolutely mind-blowing. He just came out and took over. would have been like, “All right, like that. You got some superpowers with that healing, you know.” What stuck out for me was his first basket. It was an Ivy miss to a Paul Reed tap in. Paul Reed was and then and then a Duncan Robinson steal back to Ivy for a three. Beautiful, right? Beautiful five-point swing. Easy. Right. So once he got that basket in, he got a little more comfortable. He didn’t take off tonight, but he took better shots. I feel like he uh you know just just had a little bit more confidence after he saw that three go in and was like, “Okay, we’re back.” What you said was correct early. He looked like he was just a little bit out of out of sync. And it wasn’t just him. Everybody looked out of sync, but for him it was really understandable, right? He It was a few plays early in this game where I could tell he just was not in sync. He had a couple bad fouls early. He was in foul trouble. One of them he was going for a loose ball trying to get a steal. Really wasn’t there. Bad foul. Yeah. And then he had an offensive foul forcing the action a little bit at the rim. Right. So I was I could just tell you could just see that this was his first game in nine months. Yep. JB JB mentioned that in in the on media day. He he straight up said like we we know that it’s going to take time for him to get back to playing five on five basketball. So uh you know and he and he did he took that time and he still is I just think it’s going to just only go up from here. Uh, and like you said, everyone else had the rest to break off and so everyone’s a little out of sync, which didn’t help, right? But not worried about it. Not worried about it. I wasn’t expecting too much for him in this game. It’s funny because uh before the game, uh, Zaric, shout out to Zar, he said the same thing that he wasn’t expecting, you know, he wasn’t going to set the bar super high for him for this game. And just from watching him, I’ve been watching him since his Purdue days. It looked like he was passive. It looked like he was trying not to make mistakes. It looked like he didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes. Yeah. And I mean that makes sense because he’s he watched this team closer than we did last year when he went out. He saw the team play well when he wasn’t there. So, you know, he probably didn’t want to interrupt what but it’s like we need you to interrupt because we’re going to be better with you, right? Making the mistakes now to make our ceiling higher later, right? We I feel like we we pretty much maxed out with what we had last year available to us, right? We could have went further to the playoffs, sure, but the way we were playing, right, for a young team, you couldn’t really ask for more with the talent that was given, but now I’m okay with taking a step back temporarily to take three or four forward in the future. So, we’re going to need him to be aggressive. And like you mentioned, second half, he was even the second quarter he was more aggressive. There was a play on the break when he caught the ball at the rim and it was I think it was a fast break. He caught on the break and he had a defender at the rim and the guy was not going to block his shot. he was gonna have to foul him, but Jay laid it up and it got blocked. I’m like, “Bro, like dunk on him.” Like go go go up like Russell Westbrook style go up and dunk and try to dunk on his head. Either dunk, posterize him or draw the foul, right? But in that second quarter, he got going, right? He was looking to be more aggressive because when he’s got that head of steam, he he’s really hard to stop and he was able to get to the rim and finish through traffic multiple times. And I think once he saw one fall, that’s what enabled him to knock down that shot from deep that you talked about because even if it’s a free throw, you see it go through the rim, that boost your confidence, right? Especially when you haven’t played for 9 months. So, I’m not concerned about him at all. Um, it reminded me once again of Assar last year when he was out for 8 months with the blood clot. So, you know, it’s going to take time regardless of who you are. It doesn’t matter. So, he just needs the same time, the same reps, and once he gets into that rhythm, he’s going to be really, really good for this team. Yeah. And I think that is a little bit of a mental game, too. When you come back from an injury like that, you know, of course, uh, you can practice and practice practice, but until you are on the court playing in a game that, you know, matters. It’s then you, you know, you have to get over the fact that like you were seriously injured and, and I think that might have been a reason that his aggressiveness was a little slow. I agree with you that he was like, “Oh, I’m just not going to throw this team off because, you know, they they have a rhythm without me a little bit, but I think it was also just that mental even if it’s a little bit uh subconscious, you know, so but he did he did once he started going and even though he missed some, some were blocked, he was driving to the rim with two defenders down there, he was trying to get, right? Absolutely. For sure. Yeah. So, I’m not I’m not worried about him. It looks like you guys kind of the same page. Detroit Drew says Ivy got to control that speed, but it’s good to know that it’s still there. At least he was aggressive. Exactly. A lot of people were I wasn’t because I already knew, but a lot of people were concerned. Is that burst still gonna be there? Is that athleticism still going to be there? I think he answered that question, right? He’s got all of it pretty much there. Um, and he’s been taking care of his body. So, yeah, he now it’s just about trusting that leg. Y and really having confidence. It’s too many times I’ve seen guys, not saying this is the case, but I’ve seen guys come back early too early from injury. Yeah. Say it’s a leg injury and they they put too much pressure. They lean on their other leg because they’re afraid of pushing off on the leg they hurt and that causes another injury and they’re out again, right? So So I’m in in retrospect, I’m glad that he didn’t come back for the playoffs because now there’s no question whatsoever if he’s healed. Yep. That’s right. We know for sure like with them they cuz he had the possibility to and they mentioned it on media day two and I’m really glad that he didn’t because again that super helps. uh you know, we’re hearing about a bunch of players kind of speeding recoveries with Achilles calf things and it’s a little scary. I think about, oh well, you know, they’re like Tatum’s already out there. I’m like, you know, a little nerve-wracking and so I’m really glad that Ivy did have that time off because then he also was uh able to just participate in the offseasonly without straining anything. So, absolutely. I and he we know like I said we never really got the chance for him to get him a fast break to get him from one side of the court to the other with the Grizzlies making their shots uh and us just inbounding not really having a a chance to push it. So, right, that that’s coming. All the dirty work, all dog. I’mma dive on the floor, go try to block every shot, and I’m going to be physical with you the whole game. You know, Ste going to be physical with you. When you think of the Pistons, you think just hard work and just gritty basketball. That’s just identity you got to have when you put on that jersey. I’m not your average king. Not a good dog, a bad boy for life. I set the tone. Don’t care about no tick. Let it be known. I guess my respect. Come in the lane and see. I don’t love you. If you retaliate, that’s on you. This I heard your shame. Walk in the top. You must put this mess around right now. Mess around. Yeah. Hey somebody mess around by

Jaden Ivey returned to the court for the first time in 9 months since his leg injury last season.

He was on his way to a career year last season, and has showed signs of returning to form. With time, and reps with his teammates, he will become a better version of the player we saw last season.

#detroitbasketball #pistons #detroitpistons

Thanks for tuning in!!! I appreciate all the love and support received from you all…

Please like, share and subscribe for more Lions and Pistons content.

Follow Me On All Platforms: @DowntownDeuce

Follow Sarah On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarloubos/

If you are interested in donating to help with this channels progression, please use the following.

Cash App:
$KDeuce734

Buy Me A Coffee:
https://buymeacoffee.com/downtowndeuce

Apple Music:
https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/show/king-deuce-show/c883ac08-d61d-4e53-bf0f-4121a7a04f66

Spotify:
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/downtown-deuce

YouTube also has a super thanks button right under the video.

Once Again Thank You All!!!🙏🏾

#nba #detroitpistons #detroitbasketball