EMERGENCE: Detroit Pistons’ Big Three OVERPOWERS Celtics | Ausar Thompson Breakout Is HERE
The Detroit Pistons improved to two-1 after defeating the Boston Celtics in their first home game of the season behind the effort of their newfound Big Three. You are Locked on Pistons, your daily Detroit Pistons podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. What’s the deal? Welcome back to another episode of the Locked On Pistons podcast. As per usual, I am your host, Kuho. I’ve been covering the Detroit Pistons for the last four years for the Lockdown Network, bank credential media member over the last three years. And I appreciate all of you guys who make Locked On Pistons your first listen every single day. We’re free and available on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at Lockdown Pistons. Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on. That’s another great way to support the podcast. And today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked NBA for $20 off your first purchase. If you want to watch live watch parties with me and the rest of Pistons fan base for the Piston games, click the link down below for the playback room. You can join the room over there. Also, if you want to take advantage of the 50% off deal I have for my substack where all my written content and film breakdowns will be at almost daily content for just $3 a month, click the link down below, you can join the substack. Appreciate all of you guys support. Let’s go ahead and talk about today’s game. Later on, we’re really going to dive into how well Sarah Thompson played and why he played so well. Then I want to talk about Jaylen Durren, who did not have the greatest start to this game, but ended up having a great game. I want to talk about later on the the ups and downs of Dur and how he can get to just being a more consistent, impactful player for the Pistons and what’s holding that back, why he has these stretches where it’s like, h, what are you doing? Um, we’ll talk about that later, but let’s start off with the overall team getting this win against the Boston Celtics. I have to go ahead and shout out Tom, our our our Pistons fan from Korea who came in and has had an amazing time with the Pistons. Had an amazing time in Detroit, but the Pistons really set him up. Um, really set him up at the game. Gave him some good seats. Let him use Tom Gore’s card to go to the Pistons shot. Like, he’s everyone shout out Tom, man. He’s living his life. The Pistons did him did him a solid. Um, but what a great game for him to go to. The Pistons get their first win at home. Um, led by their big three, which is Assar Thompson, Kunningham, Jaylen Dur. Kunningham 25-8. Assaar 21 and 12. Jaylen Duran 24-17. The Boston Celtics. I’ve said this over and over on this podcast before. I don’t know why the Celtics have come up so much, but they have. But the Celtics front court is bad. They have a very bad front court. They’re not very good. They don’t have a lot of size. They’re not very good. So, the Pistons front card should have been able to dominate this matchup, and they eventually did. Started off a little rough at first, but they eventually dominated. Um, they had what’s the NBA.com’s rebound totals are always are always um wrong. They have the rebounds. I guess I should have went somewhere else to get their rebounds, but NBA.com has the Pistons out rebounding the Celtics 65 to 32, but I think they include like team rebounds, like rebounds that go out of bounds and stuff, but either way, the Pistons dominated the glass. They dominated the paint, and that’s exactly what they should have done against a team like the Boston Celtics. Cade struggled early in this game. He had six turnovers in this game. Again, just not very good with the turnovers. The turnovers have to get better. Cannot continue to turn the ball over like this. But early in the game, I felt like he wasn’t taking the best of shots with a team like the Celtics. They don’t have a lot of size on in the in the paint, I should say. So, he should have been able to get to the paint routinely, and he wasn’t doing that in the first half. In the second half, though, he had a great game. He turned it up again. This is now backto backtoback games. He turns it up in the second half, especially the fourth quarter. And he just started going to the rim. He started going to the rim. They realized that no one really could stop him from getting to the basket. He was getting there routinely, was drawing fouls. um some tough finishes at the basket as well. So Cade, we’d like to see Kade eventually and he’s going to like no someone said this during the live watch party and this is truthful statement. If there was one thing that you could say about the Pistons that you’d feel like okay well I don’t need to be concerned about that to start the year which is Assaar or not sorry Kade needs to play better. Okay, if that’s the one thing you’re going to take away from these games and that’s fine because we know Kade’s going to be fine. like Kades is having a slow slower start to the year and a slower start to the year for Kade is 25 and eight on decent efficiency. So the turnovers are a bit much. Obviously you don’t like the seeing the turnovers. You’d like to see him start off a little bit stronger in the first half. But Cade will eventually play a full game where he’s just playing excellent, right? Like that’s going to eventually happen. You don’t need to be concerned about that. We have seen years now of when Kade starts off the season, beginning of the game, he’s just, you know, this happens. Eventually, we’re going to see Kade get to full-time Kate throughout the entire game. But again, a tough game for Kade at this point of his career is 25 and eight on good efficiency. So, it’s like you like if he plays better. If Kade plays like how we know he can play, the Pistons will just start like they would have won by like 15 plus this game. I feel like they won by six. They would have won it by at least, let me not say 15 plus, 10 plus in this game. I feel like they would have beat the Bulls easily in this past game. the game before this one, they would have beat the Rockets even more than they did before anyway. So, Cade, fine game from him. Like to see him be a little bit more consistent throughout the game, but ended off strong. Did a great job in the second half. Um, Isaiah Stewart, the bench unit really led by Stu, I should say, was really impactful for the Pistons. Again, him, Ron, Javvante Green continues to play a lot. And look, I’m not the, you know, I haven’t been the biggest fan of his minutes, but when he’s playing out there, I can’t deny that he’s giving it his all. and they need some of his defense. So, he he’s trying hard on defense and they need that. So, they’ve been impactful when those guys come in off the bench. It really turns the game around. The Pistons did not start off well to this game at all. They went down double figures instantly. They had two points after four minutes of the game. Like, it wasn’t good at all. Then they started some the bench in, started to get more active, started to get some more energy, and then they turned the game around, really controlled it after that. But that was led by Isaiah Stewart, who again had 9.6 6 rebounds, a block, and a steal. Led by Ron Holland, who came in and really was infectious with his defense. Had seven points, two steals, one block. Wasn’t the most efficient for Ron. Shot three of nine, but his impact was felt because of how how impactful he was defensively and how he was able to to turn so many defensive possessions into transition opportunities, how he was impactful himself in transition opportunities. The bench unit for the Pistons has been pretty good. I’m not going to lie. And this is without, again, this is without Caris Levert, who was their one of their big offseason additions, and he hasn’t even played. So, you got to give it to the bench unit for coming in and really giving the energy that the Pistons need to get back into these games. You like the Pistons not need the bench to give him the energy to get back into these games, but they are. Steu’s doing a great job. Steu’s played excellent to start the season. He hit two threes again in this game. Steu’s going to continue to hit multiple threes a game. He’s just gonna be I mean he already was insanely valuable, but he’s gonna be even more valuable. Like it’s he’s had an exceptional start to the season. Steu’s been great. Um and Ron, even though he shot three of nine, four of those were threes. All of them are open. You want him taking those shots. You live with him taking those shots. You need him to take those shots, so you live with it. Um but yeah, I thought the bench played really well for the Pistons. I thought Cade came through in the second half and closed it out for him. Tobias offensively had some timely buckets, though defensively for him. We need Tobias to be a little better. Jaylen Brown dropped 40 points in this game. Majority of that was on Tobias. They had Assara check in Peyton Pritchard and then when they move Assar to Jaylen Brown, then they would just go through Payton Pritchard and he would seek out and destroy whether it was Duncan Robinson or whoever it was that was guarding. Then he would seek and destroy him. Then they’d move Assaar back to Pay and Pritchard. Then they’d just go back to Jaylen Brown. So they were having that problem. You could have went with Assaar and Ron, but I feel like JB, it felt like JB after Ron missed his fourth three was like, “Okay, we tried to run this. We’re going to need some more reliable offense as well on the floor so we can get some stuff going.” I get it, but you need you don’t expect Tobias to give up 40. You expect a little bit more from Tobias defensively. I think he has more than he gave tonight defensively. So, you’d like to see that. Um, but Tobias had 188 and four. He also contributed on the glass to the Pistons, really dominating the Celtics front court. Um but yeah, defensively just you you need and want more from Tobias on that end. Not a very good game for Duncan though. Um some timely buckets though in the second half, but just not overall a great game for him. He’s he’s struggling to get things going. I his teammates are struggling to really get accustomed to how he likes to play, his movement, shooting, how often he moves. I think it’s going to be something you’re going to continue to see worked on and improved upon as the season goes on. But two and one, they should be three and 0. Two and one after getting their first home victory of the year. big time. Again, another game where it feels like a lot of the players that came into the game impacted the win. It wasn’t just a few guys. There’s a lot of guys that really impacted this win. The Pistons continuing to play well without Jay Ivy and Caris Levert. Both of those guys are having guys come in, step up, and continue to play well. That’s great to see with the depth of this team. He’ll take it. Coming up though, Assar Thompson, we’re gonna really dive into his game. 21 points, 12 rebounds. The breakout year is here. He’s playing great basketball. We’ll break down what makes this such a makes it so clear a breakout year is coming for us are coming up. Today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. 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And also, if you want to get all of my film breakdowns, we’ll have one tomorrow over Assar Thompson’s Great Game. I’m going to go through the clips. There’s a few plays specifically I have highlighted in my notes that we’re going to break down. If you want all the film breakdowns and all my written content I do for you guys, check out the substack. Click the link down below so you get the 50% off and only have to pay $3 a month to get all that content for you guys. I’m appreciate all of you guys’ support as usual. Let’s get into this Assaar Thompson performance. Man, the breakout is here. We are we are witnessing the Assara Thompson breakout. 21 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a team high plus 15. When he’s on the floor, the Pistons just dominated the Celtics whenever he was on the floor. His impact defensively was obviously felt, but you’re seeing the offensive game catch up. You’re seeing the offensive game arrive, and that’s what you need to see, and we are seeing it. The biggest tell, the biggest tell that SR season is going to be different this year. He had 15 shots in this game, 16 shots last game. That’s 31 shots combined over two games. There’s not any other point in SR Thompson’s career they where he’s had 31 shot attempts in over a twoame stretch. You are seeing him be more aggressive. The aggressiveness that we heard from JB in the offseason that they’re going to get from him, we’re seeing it play out. The aggressiveness that Sar talked about that you’re going to see from him is playing out. They said that he’s going to be more aggressive as a scorer. They said he’s going to have the ball in his hands a lot more. We’re seeing all of that happen and it’s generating good looks. It’s generating paint touches. It’s generating good offense for the Pistons. He is playing extremely well. And all of that that we heard about the aggression that was the biggest gap between him and his brother. The aggression as a scorer, the aggression as a driver, as a slasher, the constant attack on the rim was the biggest difference between him and a man. man was a ruthless slasher. He still is. It does. It doesn’t matter who’s in front of him, what’s the defense, he’s getting to the basket and he’s either dunking on you or finishing on you or he’s getting fouled. Like that’s that’s one of the two. That’s h that’s what’s happening. Assar, you’re seeing that this year with him. Multiple great drives to the basket in this game. I like the fact that he’s going to his midi, but I feel like he’s going to it, if there’s one critique I have, I feel like he’s maybe going to it a little bit too much. There’s some mid-range attempts I feel like he could be turning into drives instead and trying to draw a foul. But you want him taking those midies that opens up his drive. I get it. I just don’t want it to be like the number one option for his drives. Um, two biggest things I want to point out about his game though that I think are my biggest takeaways from the game. One, seven, seven of eight from the free throw line. I said the last podcast, free throws is a problem, bro. You can’t keep shooting the way you’re shooting at the free throw line. Last year, the final 23 games, I’ve said this before, shot around 71% from the free throw line. He got better at the free throw line as the season went on. He was a better free He is a better free throw shooter than he showed in the first two games of the regular season. He’s a better free throw shooter than he showed in the preseason, which we’re done talking about the preseason. The preseason was the preseason. That that stuff doesn’t count. We’re done talking about it. He’s not as bad of a free throw shooter as he showed through the first two games of this season. He got better as the season went on last year. There was reason to believe he’ll be a fine, not good. He won’t ever I don’t think he’ll ever be like a good free throw shooter, 80 plus guy. But around 70%, you take that. 70% you take that with how he drives. And in this game, seven of eight from the free throw line. Started off seven of seven before missing his final free throw. You will absolutely take that with how hard it is to stop him from getting to the basket without fouling. You will absolutely take that is huge. Huge for his development if he can hit free throws because it’s going to be hard to stop him. He’s going to get fouled a ton and he’s going to have to convert those. So that was great. That was number one biggest takeaway. The second takeaway, and this is going to be part of the breakdown tomorrow. We’re going to show video evidence of this tomorrow. I’m going really break it down. What Assar is doing within the half court on when he’s receiving a a pass on the perimeter, what he did in this game is what he needs to be doing. And I feel like almost every single time on the catch, he is doing what we call what I was what it was taught to me as throughout playing basketball growing up is running through the ball. You’re running through the ball as soon as whether it’s Kade or anyone kicks the ball out to Assar. He’s not catching, jabbing. He’s not catching and then driving. He is as soon as the pass is on his way, he is running to the pass, running into the gap that’s open because they are sagging off of him because they don’t respect him as a shooter. But the way you counter that is by making up the space quick. And he’s doing that by running through the ball. By the time he’s catching it, he’s already full speed after one or two steps and he’s getting to the paint instantly. And he had he did that multiple times. He started off Nikias Duncan pointed this out on Twitter. He tweeted this clip out. Started off with a double drag double screen at the top of the key. Kade comes around, runs a pick and roll with Duran. Dur crashing the glass. Assaar’s guy tags down. Kade then swings it out to Assar at the wing and before his defender can even react, Assaar is running through the pass. And now he’s able to get all the way to the paint and has a nice double clutch finish at the rim. Then the very next possession, same thing. He’s running around the left wing. Kade that is. Kade’s running a pick and roll to the left wing. Kicks it out to Assar on the right wing. Assar runs through the catch, runs through the ball, gets to the basket. Another crazy double clutch finish at the rim, which is really nice to see, but he’s getting to the paint and he’s able to create this spacing that you call it. Um, spacing isn’t just made by shooters. It isn’t just made by, you know, movement shoot, whatever. There’s different ways to create spacing and take advantage of spacing. And what Assar is doing is how nonshooters are able to impact the game. You have to run through the ball, make up that ground, and be extremely effective. It’s kind of like a cut. I I I don’t know if you’d really call it a cut because he has the ball in his hands, but it’s like a version of a cut. When you are that lethal as a driver, driver, what am I talking about? driver slash cutter running through the ball like that that makes you extremely um dangerous within the half court. It gives the defense another another thing they have to guard. And while maybe they don’t have to guard you as a shooter, maybe they don’t have to guard you as a catch and shooter, they do have to still keep their eyes on you. They do still have to guard you because they know that if they kick it out to you, you are running full speed at the elite athleticism, the alltime athleticism that Sar has. you are running through that catch and immediately getting a paint touch. They have to keep their eyes on you because if they don’t, you’re going to get easy layup, dunk or kick out, dump off, whatever it is, you have to pay attention to him. And I think you saw that in this game. I hope it’s something you continue to see as the season goes on. I hope the coaching staff continues to hammer that home for him because that makes that is another way in which you can attack teams that want to sag off of them. And in this game, we spoke about this throughout the offseason. He didn’t play very many minutes this past year and he was still effective. filled up the box score this game. He’s at 36 minutes, 21 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, two steals. Just in an incredible game from Assar. And then to get even more in depth with what he did in the specific points of the game that really won the Pistons the game, he came through for them in the fourth quarter. He he dominated the game in the fourth quarter. The Pistons won this game because Assar Thompson came through with multiple backto backto backto back gamechanging plays. Whether it was back-to-back offensive rebound finishes and one finish, which by the way, Assaar showing more emotion than I’ve ever seen him at any point of his career. He had an and one finish off a offensive rebound and started screaming, getting hyped. Love to see it. But whether it’s back-to-back offensive rebounds that are finishes for him or the next offensive rebound where he then kicks it or dumps it off I should say to Tobias for a putback or if it’s a steal on the defensive end, whether it’s a defensive rebound to close out the defensive possession, whether it’s another great contest on Jaylen Brown or whether it’s another one of these drives to the basket. He had about five or six gamewinning plays in that fourth quarter and really took over the game without needing to be an onball high usage guy. He took over the game with his rebounding, with his crashing the glass, with his cutting, with his drives, and with his defense. And the Pistons absolutely need it because the Celtics made this a game. They cut it to four and it was looking a little spooky there. Starting a little little get a little scared there. And then Assar came through with multiple putbacks, multiple and one opportunities, multiple big time passes, big- time defensive plays. Assaar was absolutely fantastic in this game. And this is the Asar that we were told we were going to get this year. And this type of Asar is the second best player on the Pistons. And he’s incredibly impactful basketball player. This is the breakout most improved player of the year award type of stuff that we all saw coming. Um US Assar fans saw coming. Um that Zack Low, Bill Simmons, Nakias Duncan, all these guys outside of Detroit that were predicting most improved player of the year for Assar. This is what you expected. This is the type of play you expected. Continue to hit free throws. be aggressive as a driver, be aggressive on the offensive end of the floor, be aggressive with the ball in his hands. And again, just one turnover again with him running a lot of point guard. Derek White was pressuring full court and he handled it well. This is now backto backto back games where he’s handling the on ball pressure well as the point guard when he is asked to initiate the offense and is getting it up the floor, getting them in their offense early and is not struggling against on ball pressure by really good point of attack defenders. So all of that stuff, Assar played great, absolutely exceptional. I thought he was the player of the game for the Pistons. He had a fantastic game. Coming up though, let’s move on to Jaylen Duran, who had a rough start, ended up having a great game, turned it up as the game went on. I want to talk about how he had a great game, and also I want to discuss just the highs and and lows of like the Dur Jaylen Duran roller coaster and how he can just make it a more consistent positive play throughout the entire game. I want to talk about and break it down. 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Head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. So, I want to thank you guys again. Make locked on Pistons your first listen of every single day. We are free to develop on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at lockdown pistons. Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on. That’s another great way to support the podcast, playback room, substack, all that good stuff. Uh in the description down below, check it all out. Take advantage of the 50% off deal. Watch all the games with us. You guys know all the good stuff. Um Jaylen Dur, he ended this game with 24 points, 17 rebounds, two blocks on six of 12 shooting, and 12 of 13 from the free throw line. Much like with Assar Thompson, when you are able to dominate the paint, when you are able to dominate offensive rebounds and really make your physical dominance felt against a team that doesn’t have a good front court, they’re probably going to foul you a ton. You have to be able to make them pay at the free throw line. And having a big like Jaylen Dur who can hit free throws is big for the Detroit Pistons. And it was big for him in this game as well. I want to talk about though I want to talk about the highs and lows of Jaylen Durren because through the first three games you have seen the highs and you have seen the lows and there’s been a lot of talk already through three games about how good the team’s been with Isaiah Stewart on the floor versus how they’ve been with this with Duran on the floor and Duran is I how I would describe his play through the first three games of the season for me through three games and this isn’t any finalist ization. You guys know that I like to do my overall, you know, uh, takeaways at like 20 games. I like doing it in 20 game sample size sizes. I would describe it, if I had to use one word, frustrating because you get these great plays, you’ll get this one minute of great stretches of play from Dur so far, but then you’ll get these multiple back-to-back plays where it’s like, what are you doing? Like, what’s happening? And those are the most frustrating ones. It was You want to talk about what how frustrating it is? Multiple times tonight, especially there was one play in the second quarter, I believe it was, or actually, no, it was the fourth quarter. I’m sorry. Fourth quarter, Derek White hits a pull up three off of screen at the top of the key. Darren should be way higher. You know, coming off the screen that they are going to shoot threes. It’s Boston. Needs to be a lot higher on the screen. He isn’t high. He’s in the paint. And after Dererick White hits that three, JB Bickers half is on the court screaming. You can hear him through the broadcast and swinging his hand pointing up saying, “Get up. Get up.” He was furious. And it’s because Jaylen Durren has these lapses that absolutely are like killer. But then he will have these back-to back plays or these these long stretches of just dominating a team on the offensive glass, dominating in the paint, showing off this this really good touch in the paint, hitting his free throw, drawing fouls, and then you’re like, you can do this. If you can just do this for me, it would be all good. Like for example, the first half was rough for him. He shot three of eight from the field and was a minus nine with I think the I think the the worst thing about his first half. He had four turnovers in the first half. Four four turnovers. He wasn’t playing well. And it’s like in the first half I’m sitting there like Boston is a very small front court. They are not a good front court. I’m not even sure if their front court is full of NBA players. They play in the NBA but I’m not sure if they’re NBA players. And you’re expecting going into this game like Dur has to dominate. Duran should be dominating this matchup. This should not be the This is should be where the Pistons win. This should be how the Pistons win. And it wasn’t happening in the first half. And it was frustrating. He wasn’t playing well defensively. He was giving up open threes. He wasn’t rotating very well. Like every it was just a very frustrating watch for Dur in the first half. And you have J and on the other hand, you have Isaiah Stewart playing exceptionally well. Plus 11 in the game, nine points, three rebounds, hit two threes, was playing incredible. And it’s like, man, if if Durn’s gonna continue to play like this, is play stew in the second half. Like, that’s where you were at at halftime. Then he comes out of halftime. And the second half, he’s three of four from the field, nine of 10 at the free throw line, 15 points, eight rebounds a block, and no turnovers. And they were they won his minutes by 11 in the second half. It’s like if you can just be that guy in the first half. If you can be that guy consistently, like there would be no problems and it wouldn’t be a it wouldn’t be such an up and down roller coaster frustrating of a watch. Duran has such special talent on the offensive end of the floor. He can drive to the basket. He can draw fouls. He’s a good passer. He’s an incredible rebounder. He’s incredibly strong. He has good touches around the rim. He’s a good lob threat for Cade. like he has all of that talent offensively, but they need him to catch up defensively. He has to get better defensively and in this game, he had two blocks in this game. What you’ve noticed about Durham, we talked about this a little bit last year too at the end of the year when he is on the floor with Assar, he is much more aggressive as a rim protector because he trusts that someone will get the rebound behind him. If he rotates, he he trusts that he’ll have Assar rotating behind to get this rebound. and sorry had 12 rebounds. Even Tobias had eight rebounds. Like these guys are helping him out. You see him when he’s allowed to just stay in the paint. He has gotten better as a rim protector. He has gotten better at chasing shots at the rim. That is more consistent within his game. when he’s moved outside of the paint, it through three games, it still looks like a massive struggle right now, especially regarding guys who can shoot from beyond the arc and being high enough in the pick and roll, which is what we talked about a little bit earlier with JB Bigger when he was so frustrated. It’s Jaylen Duran like I guess this is a good way to paint the game for him. He ended the game plus two on the game and single game plus minus. I don’t want to make that the biggest takeaway cuz it can be noisy, but I don’t think it is in this game. It kind of paints exactly what I’m talking about. He ended with as a plus two when he was a minus nine in one half of basketball. It was one half was way down here. It’s like you’re so frustrated. He’s turned the ball over. He’s making bad passes. He’s taking bad shots. He’s three of eight from the floor and they don’t really have anyone that can guard him and he’s giving up shots. So, it’s like what are you doing? And then the second half starts and he played so much better in the second half that he erased that that first half play. It’s it’s just like Duran is is a very tantalizing player and he has the skill and the talent to be an impactful player for the Pistons. They just need it for more consistent stretches and defensively they have to get him caught up when he’s forced to guard outside of the paint. That has to get better. It just has to. if he wants to be, and everyone wants him to be the future big man of the Pistons. They want him to get this long-term extension. They want him to deserve it. They want all this to happen, he has to be more consistent. That player that you saw in the second half against Boston, that should be the player you see for an entire game, especially against a team that doesn’t have anyone to guard him. To add on to that, you can’t have the possessions like the one where JB was losing it, where you just have like a mental lapse defensively. one or two mental lapses defensively, especially late in games, will lose you basketball games. They will lose you NBA games. The Pistons have high expectations. He is one of their best players. He is one of their their players that they are going to go to the most. They need him to show up. They need him to deliver. They are going to relying a lot on Jaylen Duran. He has the skill to do it. He just has to be more consistent and he must get better defensively. He just has to, man. He has to be more consistent defensively and pay attention and be locked in defensively. He has it in him. 2417 game for him. 24.17 rebounds. A big time game. Dominated the paint, but let’s be more consistent. Let’s just, you know, let’s be this way throughout an entire game and be locked in defensively. It I hope we get to see that from him because if he does, he deserves a contract. He deserves an extension from the Pistons and he will be here for a long time. Just you have to be more consistent, man. You got to be. That’s all I’ve got for you guys today, though. Thank you guys for making Lockdown Pistons your first listen of every single day. Free available on all your podcast platforms. Hit that subscribe button to the YouTube channel. Leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you are listening to us on. And until next time, I will see you guys later. Stay safe out there and peace out everybody.
Pistons stun Celtics in home opener. Is this the turning point for Detroit’s young core?
Host Ku Khahil breaks down the Detroit Pistons’ impressive victory, highlighting Ausar Thompson’s breakout 21-point, 12-rebound performance and Jalen Duren’s dominant 24-point, 17-rebound game. The discussion covers Cade Cunningham’s 25-point outing and Isaiah Stewart’s impact off the bench. Key topics include Detroit’s rebounding dominance, Thompson’s increased aggressiveness, and Duren’s second-half turnaround.
Don’t miss this in-depth analysis of the Pistons’ potential path to success. Will this young trio lead Detroit back to playoff contention?
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28 comments
DEEETROIT BASKETBALL 🏀
We can’t keep applauding this like it’s cool. We need to start off with urgency. Us keep starting off down 15+ until the bench sub in is ridiculous
I think the main difference between you, Sean Murphy, Anthony from Pistons talk, koolaid, etc, is that you just have a negative tone too often on the boys. I'm considering re-subscribing, though.
Ku,if Cadee would have played good in the playoffs we would have beat New York, we would have beat Chicago that first game he almost cost us the second game against Houston, and this game has six turnovers almost cost us again it's a concern for me because this is the same pattern I saw last year, in the playoffs Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson were our best players.Cade is a turnover and bad shot waiting to happen but I still have confidence his teammates will cover for him like they've been doing
Loved it after Boston badmouthed us last year.
1st Knicks 1st Warriors
2nd Cleveland 2nd Thunder
3rd Pistons 3rd Spurs
When you say, "What's the deal?" I keep thinking you are going to say it's Ku Khahil right after.
Cade locking in to be a closer
Turnovers should count into efficiency metrics. At least a turnover should be counted like a missed shot, at least.
Cade didn’t have a good game. At all. He gets himself in the air with no place to go and throws it away multiple times a game. Without ausars rebounds etc they probably would have lost. Cade didn’t have much to do with them holding the lead at the end
Only reason we won this one was because Boston has no talent. Glad we got the win, but any good team would have blown us out. We play bad against scrappy defense. Waiting for top Cade to show up. He’s gonna be a problem soon.
Big 3.. lol I love this podcast thats a stretch! Duren and ausur have alot to improve!
Good win. I really wish Daniss Jenkins had a full contract with the Pistons. I know he's only getting playing time because Ivey, LeVert & Sasser are injured but I really like what he did in this game & what he brings to this team. He has good pg instincts, can shoot the 3 & penetrate the lane. He also hustles on defense & gets deflections. Hopefully the move on from Sasser at the trade deadline & give Jenkins a real opportunity on this team.
It’s chemistry issues. It takes a few games to work them out.
"The Highs and Lows of Jalen Duren" a novella
Cade has to learn how to advance the damn ball. It’s like he doesn’t understand the basics of how to break a press. You can’t move slowly up the court and keep your defender in front of you when they are pressing you. He needs to use some burst, or strength to get his defender sealed off and on his back hip. He can slow it down in the half court. But he can’t just waltz up the court with a loose handle with a defender right in front of him poking at the ball. Haha wtf is going on this is basic basketball knowledge 😂
Duren has been good Ku, outside of the foul trouble. And I think he gets the worst whistle. Duren was a double double in first half. You're steering your own narrative for 3 games. I think you should be way more frustrated by Cade than Duren in the first half. He's low energy and bad decisions worse than Duren
You keep harping on 3 pt closeouts. That not real. No other team asks a 280 lb center to be the perimeter hard closeouts guy. Stop
+/- is sick a bullshit stat. I was watching the Spurs game Wembanyama 29 11 3 assist and 9 blocks. -29 and they won the game. Just like the Pistons game Ausar + 15, Cade 0, and Duren +2. That doesn't tell me shit. Tell me if a player played good and the team won.
Enough with the chear leading. We almost lost to hapless Boston and did lose to Chicago. Rebounding, hustle and defense is great but this team is not going to compete with playoff contenders without far better 3 point shooters AND someone to take the role played by Schroder last year. Teams are seeing they can just load up on Cade and force 7 turnovers a game. Expanding Ausaur's role is fine, but no substitute for a PG who can break down a defense and run an offense, hopefully at times with Cade off ball. Why Bickerstaff has not given Jenkins a reall opportunity to see if he could play the role Schroder did is a mystery. The only explanation is the belief that Ausar will become a credible PG with 3 level scoring potential.
Ku don't mess with me no more 😭😭. People are seeing this is a different team tho. Duncan isn't Beasley replacement, Levert isn't Schroder replacement. It's a new team with different players and skills.
Pistons need to stop these slow starts I'm so tired of seeing the double digit deficits in the 1st quarter it's annoying to watch, but I believe they'll get it together.
Ausar looks like he is already taking a massive leap. When Duren puts up these monster 20-20 games we win. Duncan hit some big ones… but man it is a bummer that Ivey isn't taking the leap Duren and Ausar are in real time.
I would love to see Ausar attack & kick when he is primary ball handler. He is focused on not messing up but it is causing him to be passive when he is primary facilitator.
We just need the young guys to grow as professional players. More attention to detail every possession. Still making a lot of college level mistakes but that doesn’t happen in one offseason. Hopefully the cohesion and speed control of how these guys move becomes much more consistent by the end of the year.
JD dominates with 24 / 18 and 2 blocks and it's described as "shows up". 😆 But for real, he's been super productive in his minutes so far this season. Biggest thing is figuring out how to get a friendlier whistle.
I predict that Ausar will eventually become the worst shooter in NBA history to receive a max contract offer. He is also the only player that I've seen with his limitations where I would still be in favor of that. As a fan of the Pistons for my whole life, he is must see TV. Really I am overwhelmed by our wealth of young talent to watch, good or bad. Young talent has always gotten us die hard Piston fans to watch with excitement as we dream of what might be one day. We are so lucky to have this many young players to watch on one team. I enjoy this part of a rebuild almost as much as when the team becomes championship caliber.
Yeah Ku, pump the brakes on that big 3 thing, I want it to be defined, but it’s too early to say!
It’s crazy to see how much your channel has grown since I’ve started watching. Love your stuff bro!! 🤘🏼
I don't think that some of us get it. Early, Cade pushes it to see if he is sizzling or if he can get away with doing anything that he wants. If not, he goes back to his standard, effective game.