Game Recap/Notes: Game #19. Pistons 112 - Knicks 118. (2-17)
Hey this one wasn’t a blowout! The fact that not getting blown out by a Knicks team that is decidedly “pretty good” and not great marks any sort of improvement is a pretty good suggestion of where the team is at this moment.
Cade Cunningham:
Continues to play better and at least put action behind his words. Finished the night with 31 points on 12-20 shooting from the field along with a pair of rebounds and 8 assists. Those 8 assists did pair up with 7 turnovers so not all good but I still came away from this one feeling better about how cade is playing. He shot well from deep, was aggressive when he had the opportunity, and also had some nice moments playing off the ball as well. He, along with a few other starters, also did manage to have a positive +/- which is one of the more positive things to report from this game. I’m not saying that this changes anything, but Cade has definitely played better of late.
Killian Hayes:
23 points on 10-13 shooting with 4 assists is a big game for Killian and one of the two performances tonight where a Piston played way over their head to keep the Pistons close. The downside is that Killian, who has been a defensive rock, was totally unable to slow down Jalen Brunson. He was far from the only victim as Brunson marched to a 42-point night and obviously Brunson is very good, but Killian mostly seemed as helpless as anyone else which was disappointing. There’s also of course an irony for Hayes that the one part of his game that has generally propped him up more or less failed him on a night where his offense was suddenly capable.
Isaiah Livers:
Inserted into the starting lineup which isn’t an unreasonable thing to do. Livers is one of the only players on the roster who even is even theoretically a two-way player and while the defense was solid and he was a team-high +4 on the night, the idea of Livers continues to be better than the actual results. He plays solid defense but there still isn’t a ton of evidence he’s more than just solid, and he scored 6 points on 2-8 shooting from the field and went 1-5 from deep along with a pair of very bad turnovers on passes he just sailed into the stands. I’m not against trying Livers as a starter for a bit (ALTHOUGH I’D MUCH RATHER IT BE IN PLACE OF STEWART THAN AUSAR OR IVEY) and when you toss in the fact he’s a Michigan guy I’m still rooting for him, but we are not too far off the point where we just accept that he isn’t going to ever realize the ideal version of himself.
Isaiah Stewart:
5 points and 7 rebounds in 32 minutes.
I’m sure tomorrow’s practice will be excellent.
Jalen Duren:
Joined Stewart in minimal production but at least he competed well with Robinson. 10 points on 5-7 shooting isn’t awesome but its acceptable when you toss in 12 boards and a pair of assists. We would obviously like to see him get more involved on offense but the Knicks are well-coached on defense and have real size on the interior so it isn’t shocking he was kept in check.
Marvin Bagley:
Back in the rotation after Wiseman briefly supplanted him for some reason. Pretty much did what we are starting to expect, 8 points on 306 shooting, 3 boards, mostly competed but was a far cry from a real impact guy.
Ausar Thompson:
Only played 13 minutes partially due to foul trouble (he picked up 5) and didn’t really find a meaningful impact other than managing to still cash in 7 rebounds. I do wonder how much more he would’ve played even without the fouls though given he was moved to the bench. It is fair to say that Ausar should move to the bench given how little defenses respect his shot, but I have a hard time dumping Ausar instead of Stewart and the continued treating of Stewart as the true core-piece remains somewhere between bizarre and unforgivable.
Jaden Ivey:
Joining Thompson on the bench, he played just 13 minutes and didn’t have foul trouble. Made minimal impact as he barely even had the ball in those 13 minutes. Please remember every single person that fed you shit about how Ivey coming off the bench wasn’t a big deal because its about balancing lineups and it was the best thing for his development.
Marcus Sasser:
He hit some threes to score 17 points on 6-11 shooting in 20 minutes so that’s good.
Alec Burks:
*fart noise*
Kevin Knox:
*even louder fart noise*