After appearing in four national TV games last year, the Pistons will be playing on national TV tonight for the second time this year, and we’re not even past Turkey Day yet.
The non-shooting injury-riddled Dallas Mavericks and Detroit head to Mexico City in what could’ve been a phone booth dog fight if key Mavericks bigs weren’t out tonight. Both teams are struggling to shoot from triple, but the Pistons’ personnel is more likely to erupt than Dallas’, despite Klay Thompson playing 21 minutes a night for the Mavs.
Detroit handed it to the Orlando Magic last time out behind a dominant performance from Cade Cunningham. He’s playing his home team tonight and has had their number in his young career.
When: 10:00 p.m. ET
Where: Arena CDMX, Mexico City, Mexico
Watch: Peacock
Odds: Pistons -7.5
Detroit got some much-needed 3-point shooting in the Magic win from Duncan Robinson, Ron Holland, and Javonte Green. The Robinson piece is very much so sustainable. If teams keep daring Holland to shoot open shots from the corner, he can bury them. Green is the most surprising sniper here. His percentages may be an anomaly, but enjoy the wave for now and his effort. Green is a Detroit player.
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Cade is a part of the personnel who can/will turn it around. He’s never been Curry from deep, but he’s not a 1/7 guy on a consistent basis either. Detroit isn’t loaded with sharpshooters, but the Mavs are even less loaded there.
Dallas is one of the few teams (Raptors, Magic, Bulls) that don’t have any players shooting more than six 3s a game. Six 3s isn’t considered heavy volume in today’s NBA, but the Mavs currently have no one reaching that threshold.
In terms of accuracy, Max Christie is the only one knocking it down on decent volume. He won’t shoot 50% all year, probably the same way Klay won’t shoot sub 30 percent. Klay is the most established shooter on either roster, but he doesn’t look the same sporting that 31 in Dallas. He’s not somebody you leave open, but Klay hasn’t been the shooter he was in Golden State.
D’Angelo Russell is historically a semi-dependable shooter, but Jason Kidd can’t find it in him to play Russell consistently. The lack of consistent defensive effort gets you benched in Dallas just like in Detroit.
Jalen Duren’s defensive effort would have been tested with a potential Anthony Davis matchup. Davis is out tonight with a calf injury. The Mavericks’ other bigs, Dereck Livley (out) and Daniel Gafford, are dealing with injuries, and Gafford could miss this game, too.
Duren has shown up this season. Per Omari Sankofa II, Duren is going to obliterate his 20-point game in a season stat. Keep rolling, young fella.
Tobias Harris showed why you don’t amp up an “unc” after his back-and-forth with Paolo Banchero. Harris is still an integral piece of Detroit’s success, even at 33 years old.
The youngest player in the NBA, Cooper Flagg (18y-315d), hasn’t lived up to his pre-draft hype yet. Partly because he’s playing out of position and his true strengths are ancillary skills like his motor, helpside defense, defensive versatility, unselfishness, and feel playing off the ball.
Setting the table for an NBA offense isn’t what most envisioned from him this early. He may grow into a de facto point guard, but he’s not there yet. One could argue these lumps he’s taking will force him to grow. It’s all perspective.
Flagg was one of the most hyped American prospects in recent years, and so was Cade. Cade is living up to his billing and then some.
Cade, an Arlington, Texas native, has averaged 33 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, and a steal in 4 career games against his hometown Mavericks. Things could be eerily similar tonight as Cade continues to reach legit superstar top 10 status.
Cade Cunningham, Duncan Robinson, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren
Cooper Flagg, Max Christie, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington, Dwight Powell
How would you feel about an NBA franchise being located in Mexico City?