The Pistons Pulse: Game 1 Recap!
Hello and welcome to your GoTo Detroit Pistons podcast, The Pistons Pulse, co-hosted by me, Bryce Simon of Motor City Hoops, a former D1 hooper and current teacher, husband, and father of three amazing kids. And I’m Omari Seno for the second Pistons beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. And as YouTube user says, are you really recording tonight? Yes, we are really recording tonight. 11:50 Central time. So, it is Thursday morning on the East Coast already. Unfortunately, after a season opening loss for the Detroit Pistons, a very interesting game that started out okay, got very ugly for a while and then got very interesting by the end of the game. We’ll probably go for about 30 minutes here tonight. So, if you’re with us live, please, you know, engage in the chat. Let us know what your thoughts on the game were. Obviously, if you’re listening listening after the fact, we understand. We get it. Hopefully, you’re catching this on your commute uh to work or on the way home from work or something like that. But uh O2, Detroit Pistons regular season basketball is back. It has started. Unfortunately, a loss on the road. These things happen in the NBA. Obviously, it seems worse because it’s game one. A lot of different things we can get into here, but what were your first thoughts on seeing this 25 26 Detroit Pistons team? Yeah. Um, not the best first impression. I thought they came out and just kind of had a list this first half, uh, first quarter. Um, you know, they came out a couple lobs from K to Duran and, uh, then just kind of got punched. Uh, you know, the Bulls seemed like they couldn’t miss a three early. Uh, you know, Pistons just didn’t have a lot of energy in transition. Not a lot of energy as far as their defensive execution. Uh, really couldn’t get a three to fall, uh, you know, for most of the night. I think they were 3 for11 in the first half and shot just under 30% for the night. Uh, so just a lot of poor execution tonight. They did pick it up obviously, you know, they turned a 23-point deficit into a tie game late and just couldn’t pull it off. Uh, which they had games like that last season too where they trailed and ended up getting back in it. Uh, like you said, it’s one game. You know, I don’t think it you you read necessarily into the first game more than you need to. Uh, you probably need like a five, six game sample size to really say anything somewhat definitive about this team. But, uh, tonight was not their best performance. Uh, you know, it was pretty far from their best. And, you know, I think this team knows that they have to win games based on defense and it just wasn’t there tonight. I think you bring up a good point there. It’s hard right now because we only have a one game data point, right? So we we we can’t even we can’t look over a fiveame sample. We can’t look over a 10 game sample. And when you only have one game and it goes the way this one did, it’s easy to overreact because this is what we do. We analyze and we talk about and we evaluate this basketball team. And I I think I agree with what YouTube user says here. I’m not worried about this loss offensively. The Pistons didn’t shoot well. That happens. But the perimeter defense has me worried. I I will say we’ll come back to the offense because there were some worries there. But man, I did not think this team played with the defensive identity that we kind of know them to have, right? The defensive identity they had last year. You mentioned the transition defense. There was one where they gave up a dunk attempt. Uh, Dumu actually ended up missing the dunk, but after a made, and I repeat, Omari, a made free throw from the Detroit Pistons, they made a free throw and then Dumu got a a dunk attempt on the other end after a made free throw, not even a missed free throw. And that’s just not something we’ve been accustomed to this team doing and giving up. I thought they lacked energy and focus. I truly did on the defensive end. Yeah, that’s just what it was, right? Just the energy and focus. Uh, you know, I don’t want to say they played down to their opponent or didn’t, you know, take the game as seriously, but there was just a level, I think, of execution and locked inness that the team just didn’t have initially. I mean, like needless to say, you shouldn’t be trailing by 15 in the first quarter and by 23 in the second quarter. So just regardless of how the game ended, like whenever you’re playing back from that type of deficit, uh you’re always going to be at a disadvantage. Uh but with that said, the defense did eventually pick up and a lot of that, you know, I thought was because of Isaiah Stewart and then Ron Holland as well. I think Ryan had a couple steals in the third. Stu had a couple blocks and it began to to change then. So I guess that’s part of it too, right? is that they have guys who at the very least can come in and uh you know change the defensive pace a bit. So, you know, maybe there’s something, you know, I don’t want to say lineup wise, maybe there’s something JB could have done cuz Darren did pick up two fouls almost immediately and Stu, you know, checked in like 2 minutes into the game. So, you know, it’s not like it was a a menace issue, but yeah, just execution, you know, could have just been, you know, first game rust, whatever it may be. Uh, you know, maybe the starting unit just didn’t spend a a lot of time together in preseason, which I mean, they did not, of course, because of injuries and you lose JI. There’s been some stuff going on, but uh the Bullets were banged up, too. So, you really can’t use that as an excuse either. Yeah, that’s a great point. I mean, at the end of the day, they didn’t have their best score in Kobe White or the guy that I assume probably leads them in scoring throughout the majority of the season, although Modis Bazellis looked really good tonight for them. I thought he had a really good game. Uh I thought this was also, you know, one of my takeaways on the defensive end. And then we can talk about the offensive side of the ball. And then I do think you started to mention Ron and Stu and I think individual performances is probably where we need to go after that. Stephen P brings up the back door cuts. Man, it it was all game long just consistent. It started at the beginning of the game. Buselis was the main I guess culprit or whatever. But he cut really well off the ball all game. But a lot of them back doors. But it wasn’t just him. It wasn’t just against one Pistons perimeter defender. It was all game. And I saw that, you know, somebody else YouTube user said that like they were consistently getting to the paint. I mean, Trey Jones just broke this team down off the bounce over and over and over. And I like Trey Jones O2, don’t get me wrong, but it it just was a little bit disappointing to watch him attack them off the bounce possession after possession along with all of the back door cuts they gave up. Now, it did get a little bit better. They did cause some of that disruption and we will get into the individual performances of the rim protection of Isaiah Stewart, some of the disruption that Ron Holland provided and a little bit of energy in the third quarter from him. I thought Assar was fine defensively, but overall just a little bit of a frustrating team defensive performance whenever it was opening night and you really feel like they should have been, you know, fully engaged, fully locked in uh with their energy level. What about the offensive end? Um, as the comment said earlier, you know, they didn’t shoot well from three. So, real quick, the numbers there, 7 to 24 from the three-point line. Cade one of six. Duncan Robinson 0 of five. They actually get three of three from Paul Reed and Isaiah Stewart. So, non Paul Reed, Isaiah Stewart three-point attempts. The team was four of 21, 18 of 26 even from the free throw line, which is less than 70%. They did only turn the ball over 10 times. I guess your thoughts on the offense as a whole before we get into individuals. Yeah, I mean not the best offensive night, but to me the issue with offense is where just missed shots that you would expect them to make. I think Duncan Robinson went 0 and5 from three. Uh obviously he’s an elite shooter. He didn’t shoot it that well during preseason either, but uh you know shots will fall for him. Like that’s not something you worry about necessarily. Kade also got off to a tough start. You know, I think he was like three of 12 from the field until that fourth quarter. And you know, I think he had a difficult time in in part because he was being doubled, but also they’re still trying to establish chemistry with Duncan Robinson. So, I don’t think Duncan got maybe as clean three-point attempts as he could have gotten. But also and re really the main takeaway I have from their offense is that maybe there are some spacing concerns and we’ve you know talked about losing bees and Tim Hardaway and just how much production there is to replace from those two guys but you have units with you know Sar Ron Duran uh you know guys that teams are completely ignoring and Ron did knock down a three late you know maybe Ron eventually would get to the point to where uh teams like okay we need to defend him cuz he’s shooting, you know, 35 36% from three or, you know, whatever it may be. But yeah, I don’t I think this game did not do anything to maybe calm any fears or concerns that, you know, they will be a bit crapped on the floor and they’re going to have to be careful with some of their lineups because Kate did get it going a bit late. But at the end of the day, he is their offense and if K’s not playing well, then I mean, their offense probably is just not going to be that good. So that’s something that they have to figure out. And here’s the other thing, Omari. Jay N Ivy not playing is is a huge part of this as well, right? And you know, we we don’t have to talk about it after every single game, especially games where they lose. If you look at three-point percentage for this team last season, guys that played at least 800 minutes, so we take out Bobby Clintman who played 42, Lindy Waters who played 123, Malik Beasley was number one in three-point percentage, Jaden Ivy was second, Sasser was third to that point. Sasser also unavailable tonight. And Tim Hardaway Jr. was fourth. So you don’t have your top four three-point percentage like there was just no second score. O2 Isaiah Stewart sec took the second most attempts on this team. I think Stu and Duran at the center position attempted 26 shots tonight combined. Like that that just can’t be what you get on the offensive end. And so it’s not just the shooting. I do agree with you and it’s something we’ve talked about. I’m the one that said I thought Duncan Robinson might be the fifth most important player on this team because of his floor spacing, but you just you you don’t have any sort of second option. You got you got to have guys that can score the basketball. This is a game where I think Marcus Sasser could have been huge and and I’ve been critical of Marcus Sasser, but he’s a guy that can at least score the ball. You just you had guys out there that I think are good basketball players, but they’re not anywhere near second options on the offensive end. Tobias at this point in his career, and Assar is not that yet. The bigs, that’s not the first thing you think of. you know, like Stu and Ron Holland being your second and third leading scorers are great, but in in terms for them individually, but man, like I just I I thought we really saw where not having that second score and the floor space, it really it really showed up tonight. I will say I thought Cade got to his spots and he just didn’t make shots, but the spacing, the three-point shoot, I’m a little nervous with Duncan Robinson in terms of like it doesn’t seem like they figured out where to get him his shots and how to get him his shots. Like they haven’t been able to get him in rhythm for whatever reason. Yeah. Like there’s just not a familiarity with Duncan in that lineup yet. And that’s just something that’s going to come with time. Uh, like I said, like Duncan, I mean, he’s a career 40% shooter. Like, he’s not like that’s not something anybody needs to be concerned about, but just from a chemistry standpoint, um, that’s something that they’re still clearly figuring out. But I agree that this definitely was a game where I think Ji’s absence was pretty glaring because they did just need one other guy who can take pressure off of Cade. Uh, you know, just so that you’re not doubling him every time he comes down the floor. and you have another creator, you get, you know, a little bit more speed. Uh, this absolutely was a game where I think Ji would have made a big difference. Not to mention the three-point shooting where even if he’s not necessarily a proven elite guy yet, uh, you’re not leaving him open and he has proven that uh, you know, he can be at least a guy that can knock down three or four threes in a a game, which on this team, you know, you don’t have like a lot of guys who take enough volume to even have like more than two three-point makes, right? Like I think Stu was like Yeah, he was two of two from three. Uh Kade had six attempts, Duncan had five. So yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know. They got some stuff to figure out with Duncan, but you know, I did I did like what with what what Stu did. I do want to talk about Ste a little bit like two of two from three, but also just defensively the block shots. Uh, you know, like it was good that he stepped up offensively, but I thought a lot of that too was just the the the defense like sparking offense and getting them some easier looks that they hadn’t gotten. Yeah. Like I I don’t want to like people know I love Isaiah Stewart. I I don’t think it’s a negative like for him individually that he had the game he had. I’m looking through his career box scores. It looks like he’s had a couple games where he took 15 field goal attempts. So, this was close to the most he’s taken in his career, and I don’t think he had one. He only had one game last season where he took double-digit field goal attempts. No, I thought, to be clear, I thought Stu was awesome, Omari. Like, I I I think he I thought he had a really good game. I thought he was good defensively, had multiple rim protections. I I think the jumper looks very fluid and smooth. And so I I I really I I really think he played well. It’s just like I don’t know that it’s a great indicator when he is the guy that takes the second most attempts on your team. Like to me there’s some sort of gap there between Kade Cunningham and you know if that’s your second guy there’s a gap there that needs to be filled and and they got to figure that out. whether it’s more Caris Levert, whether it’s, you know, somebody else. I I I don’t know, but I don’t think it can be Isaiah Stewart who takes the second most attempts on your team. But yeah, let’s talk a little more specifically now. And we can stay right here on Stu. You can give some more of your thoughts. No hesitation catching through catch and shoot three-point attempts. He had the blocks. Um, I I thought he had a really really positive game all around with a statline of those 20 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks, no turnovers. A a really really good game from Isaiah Stewart. Yeah. I mean, if you’re talking both sides of the floor, like honestly, I think that was one of the best games we’ve seen him play because, you know, his way to bring it defensively, but yeah, like you said, like he didn’t have games last season where he was taking double digit shots. uh he was very specific in his role and I think more broadly uh just going back to some of the talk during preseason where you’re talking about guys expanding roles doing stuff that they didn’t do last year it’s good that you can lean on Steu for that if it comes down to it right uh you know I think for a guy where you know the first few years of his career you kind of debate well offensively is he better at the fours is he better at the five does it’s like a slice hurt him at the rim this and that and tonight like he looked like a floor spacing five. And that’s just such a great archetype to have on anything cuz there’s still so few guys in the league who can both knock down threes but also like really really protect the rim. I mean, you could almost count I think on one hand the number of guys in the NBA who are genuinely great rim protectors and can also knock down threes. So yeah, I mean just really promising stuff from Isaiah. uh you know he’s a guy maybe you know and just even guys we talk about maybe gets lost in the shuffle a bit just because he’s already kind of proven at one thing so you don’t necessarily put it on him to expand his game but he’s done that like you said the the shot looked fluid uh you know I think he and Ron were probably the two guys in this game who were just objectively allaround positive on both ends yeah and he played 25 minutes yeah 25 minutes tonight which I you know I think last year he is around what 18 a game or something like that in terms of his minutes per game. So obviously had to step up, you know, part 19 minutes a game. Um, you know, had to step up with the foul trouble that Duran experienced early on. Let’s stay in what I feel like is probably the relative positive realm before we get to maybe some guys who struggle a little bit. Ron Holland ends the game with 19 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals, two turnovers, five fouls. I do think where Stewart was pretty much an all-around positive game outside of some misses around the basket. I thought Ron was a little bit more up and down. I didn’t think he was very good in the first half. He had a couple pretty bad turnovers trying to initiate offense. Not sure exactly why he was in that situation, but then he hit Stu on a pocket pass in a pick and roll. And then you mentioned the third quarter where he caused some real disruption, some real havoc. And I thought his energy, even though Chicago pushed the lead back to 20 before the fourth quarter, I thought his energy got the team going a little bit. And I also thought he really showed what he’s capable of in transition on the offensive end scoring the basketball. Yeah, if there’s one thing Brown doesn’t lack at all is urgency. And I think he’s just been so important on this team that uh can lack urgency. like even at times last season I don’t think they played with the urgency you necessarily wanted to see and then Ryan would come in and uh I mean he’s just you know full effort full energy and everything he does and uh it really is a gift that he has to be able to come into a game and like somehow someway you’re looking up that oh he’s like there’s a steal, there’s a transition bucket. Uh like you know he’s always doing something. uh tonight I thought was one of the better games he’s played especially late you know to hit those big shots uh you know that coast to coast layup I think which came off of uh Steu’s fourth block of the night you know so those two guys creating havoc again and then that three that he didn’t hesitate on at all uh you know I think it’s just those small moments of growth from him that uh are encouraging and that you want to see uh cuz he never would have hesitated to pull that that three but you know just to see it go down uh says a lot about his growth and yeah, I mean, if he’s going to come out and uh, you know, still be that spark plug and, you know, be able to put up points in a hurry. I think he scored 13 of his 19 uh in the second half and he had a lot of points in the the third as well. Uh, so yeah, just a great run game. Uh, in the first half, like I was thinking like this could be such a a a run night. Uh, you know, just shape it up to be one of those nights where he comes in and makes something happen. And that’s exactly what happened. Um, anybody else that was positive for you before I I don’t want to say we get to some of the more negative sides, but those were the two guys that stood out to me. Obviously, 39 points off the bench between those two guys. Ron played 27 minutes. Um, you know, I think Cade had an inefficient night. Assar’s, you know, like Assar’s box score numbers look really impressive to be honest. I didn’t know that I felt his impact as much as what those box score numbers show. Not that he was bad, but I didn’t think it was a really like u you know flagship game for him or like coming out party or something. I thought he was fine, but I didn’t you know the 11 nine and seven. I think maybe the number that stands out the most Omari for Assar Thompson is he played 33 minutes, you know, so like come out obviously there’s no sort of like minutes restriction or anything like that. I thought he did a really good job on Giddy early in the game. Had one of his patented off-the-ball recovery blocks. He found a little bit of scoring in the second quarter with an offball cut. We saw quite a few mid-range jumpers. Maybe that’s the biggest thing to talk about with Assar coming out of this one is I felt like he did get to certain spots on the floor and we saw him try to go to kind of like that little mid-range and he he didn’t necessarily knock it down a ton. But that’s a shot I’ve been kind of screaming for him to go ahead and take. So I I guess I did like seeing that from him. Nine defensive rebounds. Again, seven assists. I’m not sure the seven assists really I don’t know that I thought he was that level of playmaker as I was watching it live. Maybe I missed that. I I thought it was a fine game for Assar, but not maybe a standout game for Assar. That’s how I felt. Uh, I was going to talk about him next because he did have a nice box score, 11 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, a block, and a steal and only one one turnover. So, you know, you have seven assists, one turnover. Um, all very good. But yeah, he was out there and he made good plays and you know, not that you want to put too much of the single game plus minus, but uh after Steu who was a plus eight like Assar was a plus six and he was the only starter in the the positive which you know I think does say something. Uh so he had a good game. It’s just I just think his impact was just so even over the course of the game that there just weren’t too many like individual moments that stand out. Uh he did have a really nice block in the first quarter, I believe, but like you said, main thing with him is just the the mid-range shots. Uh you know, he knocked down two mid-range shots. Uh you know, they both looked good. He had a couple other attempts. I think in the third quarter, he kind of went back to that uh you know, kind of 10-foot turnaround uh that we saw at times his rookie season. Didn’t fall, but we didn’t see it much last year. And uh you know, he took that shot far more often as a rookie. So, good to see him get back to that. all around solid a star game, right? Uh, you know, I think if you’re like ranking how guys played in this game, he would definitely be toward the top half and there just weren’t really any obvious negatives with him. It was just very steady, even contribution across the board, which I think in a game like this where you’re trailing that kind of gets lost. But, uh, he absolutely was positive out there, I thought. Yeah. No, I I think you’re right. I think that’s probably the right take that he was he was a positive. Obviously, his defensive impact is always there. Uh maybe it was just like because the team defense in general was so rough, you know, it’s hard to give as much credit or maybe that got lost in the shuffle a little bit. And then again, you know, whenever you’re just searching for guys to really score the basketball and pop on the offensive end and it wasn’t a game where he really, you know, scored the basketball. Um what about Jaylen Duran? You know, obviously getting the two early fouls. I I thought that, you know, always can disrupt a player. I mean, he at the end of the day, he had 15 points in 20 minutes, you know, like I think we did see how important his play finishing. So, you know, he has 15 and six in 20 minutes of actual game action. One still, two blocks. So, a little bit of that defensive disruption. You know, I think if he plays, you know, as many, you know, Vu is not able to guard him and Cade in the pick and roll, they just put him in a really tough spot, especially with Duran’s athleticism. We saw it three different times. Two times to start the game and then one time I think to start the second half it happened as well. Um but you know as Stephen P says silly fouls and that that is a part of it like you got to be able to stay on the floor. So I thought in the minutes he was on the court I thought we did see good Duran things. We saw the K Duran pick and roll chemistry. We also saw and quite frankly guys this is where I’ll call out Stu. We saw both of those guys struggle yet again with a skilled big like Vu um and not be able to defend him at the three-point line. Vu had a big game shooting the ball the little short roll. Um so for every bucket that Voo gave up on the, you know, defensive end, um he probably got back on the offensive end. So, you know, both of those guys struggled to to guard Vouch in terms of the floor spacer. But what were your thoughts on Duran’s game here? Yeah. Uh good game I think offensively, not a great game defensively. Uh you mentioned just the struggles against VU and outstretched bigs tend to pop off against the Pistons. You know the guys like Vu, Miles Turner and so that wasn’t a surprise tonight. But I mean V was unstoppable. I mean, 28 points, 14 rebounds, 1118 overall, 46 from three, and an uncomfortable amount of open three-point attempts, too. So, uh, you know, I think it’s tough as a center when, you know, you do everything you’re supposed to do offensively. U, you know, I thought he really asserted himself in the paint. Obviously, the lob chemistry with Cade, uh, you know, six rebounds, uh, played just under 20 minutes, two blocks. So, he was productive and he was assertive. It’s just uh you know when your opponent goes four of six from three and you know he’s just absolutely torching your defense all night. Uh you know I think it’s just tough to feel positive about their performance overall because of that. So nothing new. Uh kind of just you know some of the same defensive issues they’ve had against players like that. And I mean that’s just you know it’s been a a sore spot for this team. So that’s something that they’ve got to figure out this season. Yeah. I mean I would be interested. This is one of those where I would love to talk like be in the um you know the coach’s conversation, you know, whatever and hear kind of the the defensive strategy of how they wanted to defend this because I think there was one late where they went ahead and rotated to Vouch. Well, now that puts the full team in rotation. Now they’re attacking a closeout and Vu actually ended up getting a short roll floater off or not short roll but ended up getting a floater off of it. So, you know, is it Stu and Duran and Paul Reed have to be better recognizing where they’re at and getting back to them or is it a situation where the, you know, weak side defenders have to do a better job, you know, closing out and getting there. So, I I just that that’s one I I would I’m always curious what the coaching staff is wanting. what is not hitting exactly right in terms of the defensive coverage of these stretch bigs. Now, sometimes it is just a lack of uh awareness from Stu and or Duran, but there’s some where it’s a pick and pop and it’s like, okay, the ball handler gets to a certain point, they’ve drawn the big away from him. Are we expecting the big to get all the way back or are we expecting a weak side defender to rotate? So, just something to watch big picture because as you said O2, it’s something we saw all of last year as well, right? It was something we were worried about going into that Knicks playoff series with Carl Anthony Towns. And so, at this point, it’s either like, can we still expect Stu and Duran to get better at it or is there a scheme adjustment that can be had to help limit it? Yeah. And we saw Tobias take the Kyo Anthony Towns defensive assignment. You can’t do that with every big, you know. I think I I think cat you could put a you know a smaller wing on him and feel pretty good. I don’t think you could put Tobias on V. There’s a little bit of a weight difference there. Well, and the other thing there is like just the matchups. The Knicks had a starting lineup with Josh Hart. I mean I guess with Chicago you could put Duran on Isaac Aoro, you know, you could put him on Aoro and you know just let him play off and you know see if Aoro is going to make you know catch and shoot threes or whatever. But that that was kind of the Knicks that that’s something you see a little bit more in playoff settings and playoff series. So I I am just interested to see there. Any any other players or thoughts, you know, general thoughts? Caris play. We got we got 10 minutes of Javvante Green. We talked a little bit about Cade. I guess we could go into Cade a little bit more into Duncan Robinson. Anybody else individually or general team thoughts that we haven’t touched on so far? Yeah, I’ll just touch on Caris. Um, like not an amazing game. He did get a couple shots to fall in the second half. Uh, but you know, I thought he just looked like just a step slow out there, uh, like everybody else did. But, uh, going back to just Ji needing a second score, needing a second initiator, whatever it may be. Uh, there was an opportunity for Caris to feel some of that as well. and he didn’t have a lot of a preseason because of injury, but just as these guys acclimate and adjust to each other. I’m curious if Caris ends up becoming a guy that plays more and more just because they need somebody else who can get a bucket and generate some shots. Uh like I said, we saw a little bit of that from him in the second half. And uh you know with Houston coming up like with the Celtics coming up you know teams with wings um these are games where I think Caris can really show how valuable he is to this group. So again like tonight wasn’t his best night but you look at some of the issues he could solve and uh you know I think he could end up being pretty important for this team. Yeah I I I agree. I think especially in the nonIVV games, you know, and even more so when you don’t have a Marcus Sasser, I I think I I don’t know what his injury situation is and and how soon they’re expecting him back, but these could be, you know, a big stretch of games for Sasser as well, a big opportunity for him because if if tonight is any indicator, and again, it’s a oneame sample is all we have. Excuse me, guys. They could really use some scoring from the back court. And I think Harris really stepping up to the plate and them leaning into that would be good. But Sasser is also a guy that could take that on and and we’ve seen him really be able to score the basketball in bunches. And so it’ll be interesting to see if either of those guys are able to do that or if maybe Assar takes more of an offensive load or you know quite frankly O2 maybe they do just continue to lean into these big guys. And I thought we saw some sort of emphasis on getting post touches to a Jaylen Duran, to an Isaiah Stewart. It’s not necessarily my favorite play type, but it seems like something they may be wanting to lean into. I also wonder if being able to cause a little bit more defensive disruption, get out in transition, play a little faster, obviously plays into the SR Thompson’s, the Ron Hollands as well. And we led off this episode talking about how we didn’t think the defensive energy was there from the start. That defensive energy in a lot of ways does drive the transition offense that is going to make this offense more efficient even with Jaden Ivy, but especially until Jay Ivy gets back or they get a true number two score. Indeed. What do you want to see them do uh against Houston Friday? An adjustment to this guy? Oh man. uh that that Houston team is going to beat you up 02. I mean they they better come ready to play and be physical. Those matchups are going to be interesting in regards to hu who Houston starts. So as we talk through it here, I mean even just take who takes Shingun. Shingun was awesome in that game against Oklahoma City. I I know they lost, but I did a breakdown over for the game theory substack just because he was so impressive. So my guess is Duran is going to start on Adams, Harris on Shenon, Assar on KD, which is going to put Kade on Oh no, who we putting? Duncan’s probably gonna have to start on Jabari and Kade on Assar or Kade on KD and Assar on a men. I I don’t know, man. this Houston lineup really gives you some matchup problems and trying to figure out who Duncan Ro because here I I’m gonna tell you fans exactly what’s going to happen. If Duncan Robinson is matched up with Jabari Smith Jr., Houston is going to post him early and often and try to attack that matchup. I’ve seen him do it in the preseason. I saw him even do it against OKC. And this this team better be willing to box out or Houston will really really win the possession game on the offensive boards is as Stephen P says zone baby. We saw some zone in the preseason. I didn’t think it looked very good from Detroit, but maybe this is a game to try it out. And here’s the thing O2. We’re talking about an offense that didn’t look great. Chicago is not exactly known for their defense. You know what I mean? Like they’re a team that gets out in transition, runs fast. When Kobe White’s in the lineup, you can see them scoring points. Houston’s going to guard the heck out of Detroit. Uh this could be a game where it’s a struggle to get to 100 for the Pistons if they don’t make shots and find a little bit more flow than what they found in this game. Yeah, I agree. Um like Houston could just be absolutely stifling defensively. And I don’t know if you want to be a team that’s relying on one guy to generate a lot of your offense against Houston. uh you know especially when they’ve got KD and you know they’ve got several engines off offensively uh that’s a really good team. You know they’ve got multiple wing defenders they could throw Kade whether it’s Aman or Tyrie East and uh you know maybe Jabari Scooper or even I don’t think he’s a bad defender. Uh so yeah they’ve got a lot going for them and that’s going to be a tough game. Seems like the Pistons and Rockets always have like really tough spirited games. So, uh, it’ll be a good test, but yeah, uh, you make a good point about Chicago and just from a matchup standpoint, uh, that’s definitely going to be a tough one for the Pistons. Yeah. Uh, we’ll see if they can bounce back and it is one game, you know, and that’s what some of the things we talked about tonight could look very silly. you know, Duncan Robinson can all of a sudden go on a heater or who know, you know, Caris is averaging 15 points a game for the next, you know, four to six weeks. It’s one game, but that’s the data we have right now. So, we wanted to get that to you as soon as we could. We stayed up late here to go ahead and break this one down. This will not be the normal kind of procedure throughout the regular season in terms of recording after games, but where it was the season opener, we thought it’d be worth it there. NBA basketball, regular season basketball is back. Lots of big-time performances around the NBA tonight. Victor went crazy. VJ Edge as a rookie went crazy. It looked like Anthony Edwards had a big game. I’m excited to catch up on all of it. But I will be doing that in the morning. I hope you will be doing that maybe after your flight lands tomorrow back in Detroit. Stephen P says, “Thanks, guys.” Obviously, we appreciate all of you. I have one thing real fast I want to read here, Amari, because this is to you as well. This is from Phil. He reached out over on the Substack and he said, um, specifically about the podcast. Um, your 200 Pistons Pulse episode put me in a reflective mood and I wanted to share how meaningful that podcast has been to me. I grew up in Minnesota. Go Timberwolves. But for the last decade or so, I’ve moved to several locations across the country. And last summer, I ended up in the Detroit area. While I may have some connection to Michigan, as with any move, it was nerve-wracking to begin somewhere new. I was looking for a way to learn more about the local area while enjoying my interest in basketball, and I came across the podcast. You and Amari seem like good dudes and present your thoughts in very real, thoughtful, and accessible ways. So much so, I felt inclined to send this note. Thank you for Thank you both for helping me learn more about basketball, keep updated on the Pistons, and feel closer to the community I now call home. Uh, I wanted to share that because th those are pretty cool, O2, whenever we get those messages. So, I wanted to share that on the pod, make sure you caught that as well. And I thought maybe that’d be a good way to end this one. No, for sure. Hey, we appreciate you. Welcome to Detroit. Um, glad we could help break down uh this team. You got here at a great time, by the way. uh you know it was bleak a couple couple years ago. So you know uh it’s it’s nice to have a team that people want to tap into and learn more about. But appreciate the kind words. Absolutely. Yeah. Uh we’ll be back. I think right now the plan we’re looking at Sunday night. Uh Detroit plays again on Sunday afternoon and so O2 would be able to do his media stuff and all of that and then we could do something Sunday evening hopefully with Sean Windsor. YouTube user says great show guys. Appreciate you always. YouTube user about to hit you back over on the Substack um from your thoughts as well. But Sean, we’re hoping to get him on. we’ll have a few more games to break down and and by that time it’s still early, but when you get three or four games into a regular season, barring crazy injuries or something like that, you can start to get a little bit more of a feel because you played differing opponents and all of that. So hopefully I would say better analysis because we have more data points coming for that episode. So join us back. I believe that will be on Sunday night. Yeah, one game folks, not the NFL. Uh, you know, I know sometimes after these losses, it’s like, you know, I can’t believe that happened, but they they play so much basketball. Uh, this is one of 82 and as Bryce said, when we come back on Sunday, uh, we have a few more data points to draw from. Uh, you know, and two very different teams, I think, from Chicago and Boston and Houston. So, definitely looking forward to that one. And big thanks as well to everybody that tapped in with us late tonight. It’s been a while since we’ve done one this late. Like probably at least a couple years since we’ve done one this late. So, thank you for staying up with us. Yep. Take it away. All right. Big thanks to our audio producer, Robin Chan, our editor-inchief, Nicole Avery Nichols, uh our executive producer, Bill Bradley, and big shout out to Wes Davenport as always. And we’ll talk to you all next week.
The Pistons Pulse is your go-to Detroit Pistons podcast for all the best news, analysis, insights and opinions on the team.
Hosted by Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press and Bryce Simon of Motor City Hoops. Omari brings insider insights and analysis as a Pistons beat writer and Detroit native combined with Bryce’s in-depth on-court analysis as a former D1 player and current high school coach of 12 years.
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2 comments
CHAUNCY BILLUPS Caught in Gambling Probe According to Kash Patel!! Other NBA players wrapped up in mess!
I was too tired to stay up for this one 😂