Game Recap/Notes: Game #27. Pistons 98 - Pelicans 104. (7-20)
Killian off to a great start. Steal and dunk, crossover middie
Daniels beating Ivey too easily
pistons getting into transition early
2nd quarter stretch Zion got into the game and Pellies went on a run
Killian has eaten up McCollum a few times defensively
Ivey not on the floor to close the game
Killian made a valiant effort but prolly tryna do too much
Zion too strong for Duren, too quick for Kill
Good compete on the second night of a back to back but the Pistons couldn’t stop Zion and couldn’t make the needed plays in the game’s closing moments. I will also just say that Zion Williamson is the most baffling player I’ve ever seen. He is so strong that he could move Jalen Duren, but also so quick that Killian Hayes had trouble staying in front of him. Just absurd.
Killian Hayes:
A strong game. In 32 minutes of work, Killian scored 17 points on 8-17 shooting along with 12 assists to notch a double-double. 6 rebounds to round it out and you have a highly effective game. Hayes was also huge defensively and absolutely put CJ McCollum in jail at times with his hounding defensive effort. In an effort to slow down Zion Williamson, the Pistons were not quite as switch-heavy as they often are which allowed Killian to simply lock up to McCollum which allowed him to shine defensively. The Pistons are well enough set up to switch most stuff so I’m not against the basic idea, but it would make better use of Killian as an individual defender to let him just mirror the opponents best player.
Killian only went 1-5 from deep, and did most of his scoring in the mid-range. As he’s done for a while now, he mostly hit defenders with crossovers before rising up for 15-20 footers. This isn’t the most ideal situation, but he’s hitting enough to be efficient and leverage defenses against him, and he is such a smart passer that he can use that leverage to find open teammates. Most indications are that John Beilein has had a heavy hand in Killian finding his shot, but whoever got through to him that if his comfort zone is in pullup-stepback jumpers, he should just do them closer to the hoop where its not as difficult, gets immense credit. Killian also gets credit for taking that advice. The middies don’t get on highlight reels like the step-back threes do, but he’s found an effective foundation for his offensive game.
The only blemish on Killian’s night is that in the games final possessions he was given the keys and pretty much flopped, which isn’t really a huge knock on him but it did happen. Still a positive game where Killian was instrumental in keeping the Pistons in it.
Jaden Ivey:
Bizzare. I have to imagine at this point that Ivey is not 100% healthy yet. Once again he took half of his 10 field goals from deep to finish with 12 points on 4-10 shooting and he only played 22 minutes tonight. Its possible that Casey simply didn’t like how he was playing, he was beaten badly on defense several times in the early parts of the game and had 3 turnovers without an assist, but its still somewhat baffling.
If he isn’t healthy then he should probably just sit out longer rather than play such a passive style. If he is healthy then something needs to give.
Bojan Bogdanovic:
Not ideal. After carrying the Pistons home against the Heat, Bojan was just 1-8 from the field for 5 points before having his night cut short at 20 minutes with a double tech that saw him ejected from the game. Bojan needs to keep himself a bit more in control but on the flip side, the refs tossing him immediately when he wasn’t exactly demonstrative or out of control is pretty poor reffing. Unless Bojan said something particularly egregious (which is possible of course) he didn’t seem to be doing anything different than what NBA players do all the time.
Isaiah Stewart:
10 points on 3-8 shooting and 2-2 from the line isn’t great but its passable. Didn’t have a ton of impact elsewhere. I’m not going to exactly dog him for not being able to slow down Zion but it is worth mentioning that outside of like, 1 possession, he did not stand much of a chance in that department.
He shot 2-5 from deep. Ready to eat that crow?
Teams are starting to guard him, he’s still taking threes with confidence and hitting them. The sample size is still too small to get overconfident but I think he may keep some consistent shooting. It is worth remembering that a significant part of my issue with him playing the 4 was not actual concern around his shot (although that was and still is part of it). Even if he is going to shoot around league average, he is still miles away from being able to do any of the other things most modern 4s do. Remember that most 4s today are basically wings, so while it is valuable and important for Stew to be shooting well, that simply makes him Tony Snell but able to rebound, it doesn’t mean he’s worthwhile as a 4. If he keeps improving though, I’ll happily eat that crow, I like Isaiah.
Marvin Bagley:
Brutal game for Bagley. Scored no points while missing all 4 shots, got utterly lambasted by Zion when matched up against him, and only played 20 minutes and rode the bench for the home stretch.
Kevin Knox:
Finished with a poor stat line as he went just 1-6 from the field for 3 points. That said, given how unkind I was to the Knox signing I should point out that this recent stretch hasn’t been terrible.
Saddiq Bey:
25 points on 9-17 shooting and 5-10 from deep as he finally found some regression to the mean with his long ball. I’m still unsure about his 6th man role long-term, but tonight he was effectively largely due to a hot night from deep.
Corey Joseph:
Played 21 minutes and did not score. I will not elaborate further.
Jalen Duren:
Got extra minutes with Bagley being booty. In 27 minutes Duren scored 12 points on a perfect 5-5 from the field and 2-2 from the line to go along with 13 boards (5 offensive). He got some shots at defending Zion and he didn’t really do better than anyone else… well that’s not true, he did better than Bagley. That said, I don’t think we should be too hard on Duren for struggling to contain Zion. Extremely positive game for the young man.
Alec Burks:
Keeps right on doing his thing. Only played 22 minutes, got up 10 shots and scored 14 points. Just a professional scorer.
Hamidou Diallo:
Made a short cameo with Bojan ejected, didn’t do anything.
General:
Have to like the fight. The Pelicans are a bit banged up but they are a really good team. Could easily simplify this to “they have Zion and we don’t” as Zion finished with 29 points on 11-16 shooting and 7-11 from the line. The Pistons have absolutely no answer for Zion so that wasn’t a huge shock. My main concern at this point is Ivey, who isn’t playing well but also not playing the right way.