Game Recap/Notes: Game #48. Pistons 108 - Bulls 126 (12-36)
Pretty disappointing effort for the Paris game. Obviously it doesn’t actually mean anything more than other games but somewhat of a showcase. On the other hand, the Bulls are a tough matchup for the Pistons so whatever I guess.
Killian Hayes:
Pretty much a dud in his home country. Hayes scored just 4 points on 2-13 shooting, he did have 8 assists but had 4 turnovers to go along with them which obviously isn’t ideal. The defense was still fine but he didn’t exactly give trouble to either of the Bulls perimeter guys (although they didn’t go at him as much as they did others on the team). Just a good example of that, despite the good vibes and eye test for Hayes, he still has a long ways to go.
Jaden Ivey:
Perfectly fine game, 16 points on 7-14 shooting with 4 assists. Remains a bit disappointing with the fact that he isn’t getting more shots up but in the end we can live with these performances. The bigger issue remains the defense at this point. I can’t remember who it was now and spent 5 minutes trying to find the tweet (so if you recall who said it please say so) but someone remarked how Ivey easily blew past the entire Bulls defense for a transition layup and then came back on the other end and looked like a traffic cone on the other end. There’s no other way to put it, he can’t be that bad on defense.
Saddiq Bey:
Decent game so we won’t consider this one as back to bad in his streak but certainly not great. Finished with 16 points on 6-16 shooting with just 1 assist, 9 rebounds (3 of which were offensive) is a nice touch. Overall he is continuing to find some of his footing which is a positive. The defense remains a problem for him as well.
Bojan Bogdanovic:
A standard day for Bojan. 25 points on 9-20 shooting from the field with 5 boards and 3 assists. hit some tough shots, moved well without the ball, got torched defensively.
Isaiah Stewart:
Good reminder of why he’s not playing center anymore. After seeing Duren (and even the brief cameo of Noel) it is so clear that he is undersized and not athletic enough to be effective in defending the hoop. The bigger problem was the offensive side of the ball where Stewart may have had his worst night in a long while. 7 points on 1-10 shooting from the field in 30 minutes is ugly. 11 rebounds is fine but this was a brutal game for Stewart on both ends especially considering that Druen was pretty good in his minutes. Also of note, after going 0-4 from deep his is now below 33% from deep on the season and teams never stopped sagging off of him. He is approaching a very bad territory.
Isaiah Livers:
6 points on 2-4 shooting for probably his first decent game since returning from injury. I will say that I am not thrilled about the fact that he tried to go into isolation a couple of times tonight. That just isn’t his game.
Jalen Duren:
One of the few bright spots and it showed up on the stat line. 11 points on 4-4 shooting (3-4 from the line) with 12 rebounds and 2 blocks in just 18 minutes while also being a team bets +5 on the night.
Alek Burks:
I’ve often praised just how consistent Burks has been this season. Every night he scores 12-18 points on solid efficiency. This wasn’t the case today. 1-8 from the field for just 6 points.
Hamidou Diallo:
I’m at the point where I want to trade Burks in order to clear up more shots and space off the bench for Diallo. Bar none. I fully do not care about the fact he may not work on a team that is winning. Diallo brings so much that this team desperately needs with his athletic slashing, willingness to force his way inside, smart cutting, general effort/energy, and the fact he seems to be one of the only guys actually enjoying playing basketball. I’m almost to the point that I want to just start him to be honest. Just put him out there with Duren and let them both be super hard playing athletes and see what happens.
Diallo finished this game with 17 points on 7-8 shooting and was the main reason the Pistons did not get completely shellacked in this game. He joined Duren as the only Pistons to go positive with a +1 in 21 minutes of play.
I also need to be totally honest that I’m not sure I have has as dramatic a flip in opinion on a Pistons player since I started doing this. When Diallo arrived I openly stated that his mere presence on the roster was a red flag about the rebuild because he made no sense and this past Summer I said that I wouldn’t even mind not picking up his option for this season. At this point I hope the Pistons keep him past the deadline just so he can help keep these games semi-watchable for me.