Pistons-Celtics Reaction: Cade Cunningham is NBA MVP candidate after ANOTHER clutch win

Pistons-Celtics Reaction: Cade Cunningham is NBA MVP candidate after ANOTHER clutch win

really just a masterpiece from Kate Cunningham. Uh the Pistons defense was phenomenal in this game and really strangled the life out of that red-hot Celtics offense that's been frying everybody. I do want to deep dive into that concept, specifically that defensive end of the floor here in a little bit, but we have to start with Kade. 32 points and 10 re 10 assists in this one. Ice the game with backto-back mid-range pull-ups over Derek White and just looked really comfortable in his one-on- ones down the stretch in this game. It wasn't just Derek White in like size mismatchups. He had a a little ISO against Jordan Walsh where he just hit a couple of scissor dribbles. Got to that kind of left lane line and just bumped him off with that right shoulder and hit a short little fadeaway. Hit it the same kind of shot against Derek White and then that nasty spin move in the middle of the floor that iced the game. He's again, we talked about this last week, but he's been the second best clutch player in the entire NBA this season behind Sha Alexander. He's 26 for 48 from the field. A few more clutch buckets for him last night. He also had some big uh catch and shoot threes in the second half. One off of a post up at Tobias Harris and then another off of a baseline drive by Tobias Harris. And that's encouraging because that's been a random weak point for Cade this season. Like he's been considerably better on pullup threes than he was last year. He was like 32% last year. He's like 36 and a half% this year. But his catch and shoot shooting has fallen off a cliff. He's been brutally bad in catch and shoot three-point shot situations. good sign last night, him hitting those couple in the second half. But the the formula for the Pistons is clear. They're a good offense, but not a great one in the large sample. Nothing super surprising there. They play a lot of defensive personnel, and they only have one super highle offensive player. So, they're they're not the kind of team that's going to go hang a 122 offensive rating like some of these other teams in the league, but they're an absolutely dominant team on defense and they're absolutely dominant on the margins. So, they can keep any game close and then when they get into a close game late, they have this devastating combination of being an elite defense, they're the best clutch defensive rebounding team in the NBA this year, and then Kade is just this surgical shot creator when they get into the half court. And that just wasn't the case last year. Cade was bad in the clutch last year. He had as many turnovers as assists. He was 22 for 64 from the field in clutch last year. So, he already has four more clutch shots made than he did the entirety of last season. Their defense wasn't as good last year. Their defensive rebounding team was they were like bottom half in the league in clutch defensive rebounding. And so as a result, last year in 44 clutch games, they were 21 and 23. They've reversed all those trends this year. Now they're 14-4 in clutch games. That's a huge part of why they are where they are, where they're at in the standings. But I want to get back to the defense because that's the thing that makes this sustainable. Sometimes in especially in a smaller sample, a third of the season, sometimes shot making can go in and sometimes it can go cold, right? Like Denver for example, that's a historically great clutch offense and they were great last night, but they've generally been down in the clutch this year compared to years past. Sometimes the shots just don't go in, but defense is much more consistent night tonight. And this Pistons defense is elite by any measure. They're now second in the entire NBA in defensive rating, right behind Oklahoma City. Albeit there's a gap there because OKC is so transcendently great, but they're the second best defense in the league. And it's not hard to see why on tape. Similarly to OKC, and this is just a formula that works in the NBA, the Pistons have like a halfozen dudes who sit in a damn stance and get up into the basketball and can really guard on the perimeter. They're super athletic and strong. They get up underneath ball handlers that make them uncomfortable. one of the big swing portions of this game. Again, those bench groups at the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth quarter where you've got some combination of Jaden Ivy and Caris Levert, Javvonte Green, and Ron Holland out there. Those guys had the Celtics guards in hell. Javvante Green had one of the highlights of the season, a play where he kind of stonewalled a lefty drive from Pton Pritchard, caused him to lose control of the basketball, swiped it from him, ran out to the other end, and just jackhammer smashed it on the entire Celtics team and ended up bumping into the ref and picking up a technical. Unbelievable highlight from Javvante Green. They had 17 points off of Boston turnovers in this game, by the way. That came right off the heels of of him hitting a massive three off the right wing to beat some nailhelp. They were swarming at the rim. I thought it was one of Isaiah Stewart's better defensive games this season, especially in that second half with some of his rotations at the rim. The Celtics were cold from three all night, but I thought the Pistons really played them into that result. Like the Celtics attempted 39 threes, but Synergy only classified nine of them as unguarded catch and shoots, meaning 30 of those 39 threes were either off the dribble or some form of contested catch and shoot. And again, there is just a proven formula for winning games in the NBA that Detroit's following here. Defend at an extremely high level. Win the margins. Like, this is crazy. They're plus 2.3 points every single night in the fast break. They're plus 1.2 points every night in second chance points. They're plus 3.9 points every night in points off of turnovers. And they win their bench units. They're plus seven this year per 100 possessions with Cade off the floor. They get dribble penetration from guys like Ron Holland and Jaden Ivy. Just hard rips to the basket where they can get uh uh easy layups. Carris Levert was a zone buster last night. Hit a couple of huge threes off the right wing and had a big driving layup against the zone. All of those guards get up into the ball. Noncade lineups again were plus five last night. So, if you're defending at an elite level and you're winning on the margins that keeps you in every game, then you get into a close game late and they have one of the best clutch players in the entire NBA, a halfcourt surgeon that can beat any coverage in pick and roll and can beat mismatches in ISO. You blitz him, he showed early this year, he's just going to make the right read every time and the Pistons find a way to score on the four and threes. You run a drop coverage, he just methodically, Lucas style, works his way into the lane, shields off the defender and gets some sort of quality look for himself. you switch, he's one of the best ISO uh uh scorers in the league. He's just a problem in that sort of slowed down half court environment. Do I think the Pistons could use a little bit more offensive firepower? Yeah, this is still my favorite Michael Porter Jr. team. I just think he rounds out things perfectly in their best lineups. Like essentially is a massive upgrade of Tobias Harris. And I think it's like a realistic thing. Like, you know, I'm a Laker fan. I I I want a guy like Herb Jones for the Lakers. It just seems like such a long shot. I don't know if they have enough. I don't know if the Pelicans want to get rid of him. Brooklyn really should flip Michael Porter Jr. for another first round pick so they can say they turned Cam Johnson into two first round picks. The Pistons have the means with which to make that happen. I think they should be front and center in the Michael Porter Jr. race. And again, he adds another element to their defense, too. He's not quite as good on the ball as a guy like Tobias Harris for obvious reasons. He's not as quick and he's not as physical, but he's a very good defensive rebounder for a team that's what 14th in defensive rebounding overall this season. He's a very good secondary rim protector which can help for a couple of undersized centers. He's a guy that is like a dead eyee knockdown catch and shoot shooter that also has the ability to drive closeouts and do a little bit of work on the ball. He'd be a beautiful transition weapon for those kick aheads from Kate Cunningham. I just think in general he's the guy that rounds everything out for them. I think he's the guy that they should be lining up for. But this is a truly special basketball team. And when you can defend like that and you can win on the margins like that, you put Cade in position to lift you over the top. And I think they're absolutely a threat to make it to the NBA Finals this year. On the Celtics front, it's just a bad matchup for their guards in a lot of ways. Like Derek White showed some impressive shotmaking, like over-the-top shot making in that second half that helped keep them in it. But all of their guards, including Derek, struggled to like truly break down the Pistons defense, meaning like break them down in a way that generates easy shots, not tough over-the-top shots. Like Jaylen Brown was really the only guy who looked comfortable driving the basketball in this game. Jaylen was fantastic. He was also a battering Ram last night, just bullying through guys to the front of the rim, following his own misses for offensive rebounds. It was super impressive. Jaylen, again, like in a physical blood bath type of game against a tough Detroit team, I thought he was really, really good. Uh, but I found myself feeling like this is the sort of matchup where a guy like Jason Tatum becomes super helpful. I've talked about this concept a lot with the Lakers as it pertains to their matchup with a team like the Thunder. Theoretically, the best way to counter ball pressure guards is to have big forwards, big wings who can overpower them and either score easy twos or draw the defense for kickouts. They have the strength to counter the pressure, right? And you saw that just with how comfortable Jaylen Brown was last night. Another guy like that and Jason Tatum that gives you a much better chance to score in a game last night like last night. like another layer, another method with which to break down the defense. Again, that's the fundamental difference between this guy's hitting tough shots and we're generating layups and open threes. That is going to come from a player that breaks down the defense. And having another guy like Jason Tatum, especially with how much more of a gifted passer Tatum is, even than a guy like Jaylen Brown, I just think having him back, all I could think about last night is I was like, man, this is now that it seems like a real possibility, not just a real possibility, it seems like a likelihood that Jason Tatum comes back and plays basketball this season. I just thought about him as just another layer to help that offense cuz like ultimately you're not going to shoot better unless you generate quality shots. Adam Taylor, who does a great job covering uh covering the Celtics on an individual level. He was tweeting out these stats last night. The Celtics are now three for 13 when shooting under 35% from three. They're on pace for 39 games this year shooting under 35%. That's the worst of the Joe Missoula era. And they're winning those games at under a 25% clip. The only way to rectify that is generate better shots. Last season they generated the second most unguarded catch and shoot three-point attempts in the entire league. This year they generate the seventh most. It's a modest drop off, but it's a drop off. Overall, to be clear, I still think the Celtics offense is awesome. You can't deny it. They're fourth in offensive rating this season, but they just aren't quite as resilient as they were with Tatum because their shot quality is a little bit worse than it was last season. And I think again, it's that extra layer. It's that extra help in the form of another big shot creator that can help break down ball pressure teams like the Detroit Pistons.

Jason reacts to the Detroit Pistons getting a clutch win over Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics. He details how good Cade Cunningham has been in the clutch this season, a massive improvement over last year, and why he should be in the running for the NBA MVP award.

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