ORLANDO \u2014 Desmond Bane thought he had an open look as he rose for a free-throw line jumper to start the third quarter of Game 2. The Orlando Magic guard curled around a screen from teammate Franz Wagner for what appeared to be an uncontested attempt. That is, until Ausar Thompson leaped from outside the key to get a hand in Bane\u2019s face.<\/p>\n
Thompson didn\u2019t get there in time to block the shot, but Bane kicked his foot out and tripped Thompson. It resulted in an offensive foul that started the Detroit Pistons\u2019 decisive 30-3 run. It was fitting that Thompson spurred the run, since he was the one who sustained and prolonged it.<\/p>\n
Simply put, that Pistons\u2019 third-quarter avalanche doesn\u2019t happen without Thompson. He was clogging passing lanes, blowing up Orlando\u2019s plays as a point-of-attack defender, fighting around screens and rotating to wreak havoc as a weakside defender. Thompson was tied for a game-high plus-26 and had two steals during his eight third-quarter minutes, but the numbers don\u2019t do his impact justice.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old Defensive Player of the Year finalist primarily guarded either Bane or Jalen Suggs during that run. While doing so, he also roamed as an off-ball defender, providing a second body on double-teams of Wagner and Paolo Banchero. Thompson had his fingerprints, quite literally, all over Detroit\u2019s surge.<\/p>\n
And the Pistons will need Thompson to replicate that level of tenacity on Suggs and Bane and as a roamer on Banchero and Wagner if they hope to win Game 3 and take back control of this first-round series. Thompson is as important to Detroit\u2019s success this postseason as any Pistons player, including two-time All-Star Cade Cunningham.<\/p>\n
Pistons assistant coach Jarrett Jack described Thompson\u2019s defensive impact after Friday\u2019s practice. \u201cI would liken it to how there are some cornerbacks in football who are really, really good in zone, and they do tremendous,\u201d he told The Athletic as Thompson sat within earshot along the blue Kia Center baseline. \u201cThen you\u2019ve got others whose assignment is to follow the guy all around the field, sideline to sideline.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery rarely do you find people who are high-level in both. (Thompson) is a guy who\u2019s high-level in both.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three Magic possessions after Thompson forced the Bane turnover, he struck again, this time as an off-ball defender. As Bane waited in the corner, Thompson sagged off of him to help on Wagner, who was attempting to spin around Tobias Harris. When he felt the additional pressure from Thompson, Wagner looked for Bane in the corner, but Thompson intercepted the pass and went the other way like he\u2019d been studying Deion Sanders highlights.<\/p>\n
Then, with 6:23 remaining in the third quarter, as Detroit was in the midst of the 30-3 run, Thompson picked Suggs\u2019 pocket on the Pistons\u2019 half-court logo. It was a thievery that left Suggs lying on his back as Thompson sprinted the other way for a back-scratching dunk that unleashed pandemonium at Little Caesars Arena.<\/p>\n
Thompson\u2019s fast-twitch muscles and physical attributes, in a league full of players with uncanny athletic abilities, are arguably only rivaled by those of his twin brother, Houston Rockets forward Amen Thompson. His instincts and athleticism propel the Pistons to go on game-changing runs. They\u2019ll need more of Thompson\u2019s defensive back-like motor throughout the series.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of the best of both worlds with him,\u201d Jack said when discussing what differentiates Thompson from other elite defenders. \u201cRegardless of whether he\u2019s on or off the ball (defensively), he still has a level of aggressiveness that doesn\u2019t bog him down at all. He does a tremendous job of leading our defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bay Area native has shown he\u2019s capable of changing the tenor of games all season. It\u2019s why Thompson led the NBA in steals per game. Defensive Player of the Year Victor Wembanyama (263) and All-Star Scottie Barnes (230) were the only players in the league this season who had more combined steals and blocks than Thompson (215).<\/p>\n
Bane is averaging 14.5 points on 29 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3 through the first two games of this postseason. The sample size is small, but thus far, those are the worst shooting percentages he\u2019s produced in the playoffs and the second-fewest points he\u2019s averaged in the postseason.<\/p>\n
He was good for 20.1 points on 48.4 percent overall and 39.1 percent from long range in 82 games for the Magic this year.<\/p>\n
Though it requires a group effort to contain a player with Bane\u2019s offensive capabilities, Thompson has led the charge. The 30-3 run Thompson kickstarted underscores his value to the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t meet many players who can cover ground, and then if there\u2019s a play that needs to be had at the rim, can also be a secondary rim protector for you as well,\u201d Jack said. \u201cWhether he\u2019s hawking the ball, making it tough for guys, eating up clock coming up the basketball court or if he\u2019s in space, (he\u2019s unique).\u201d<\/p>\n
Thompson\u2019s teammates understand how he elevates the Pistons\u2019 defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect him to be Superman because he does it so often,\u201d Jalen Duren said of Thompson\u2019s defense after an April 2 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. \u201cSince he got to the NBA, you could kind of tell he was different athletically. \u2026 We can put him on anybody handling the ball, (and) he\u2019s going to pressure them and make them uncomfortable. We can put him on any scorer, any shooter, any type of player, and he just does his job.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving a player like that makes everybody\u2019s job easy.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was apparent how much easier Thompson made everyone\u2019s job during that Game 2 run. And it\u2019ll be paramount for the Pistons to continue giving Thompson the minutes and freedom to break games wide open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO \u2014 Desmond Bane thought he had an open look as he rose for a free-throw line jumper…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,188,231,772,1544],"class_list":{"0":"post-717728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-detroit-pistons","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaab"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116465534466707507","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}