Game Recap/Notes: Game #55. Pistons 99 - Celtics 111. (14-41)
Credit to the bench mob for getting the Pistons back within striking distance after it seemed like they were completely done for but that’s about as positive as we can be.
Jaden Ivey:
Not an awesome game but perfectly fine. In 27 minutes Ivey scored 14 points on 5-12 shooting from the field along with having 5 assists against a single turnover. We are still in a position of rather wishing that Ivey would be more aggressive in searching for his own shot, especially on a night like this where no one was exactly cooking, but I guess that is a small complaint. He continues to show great chemistry with Jalen Duren and his general progression as a passer has been astounding so Ivey is trending in a great direction overall.
Alec Burks:
Started but only played 19 minutes and wasn’t very good. 19 minutes of playing time resulted in just 5 points on 2-8 shooting from the field. Burks has been so absurdly consistent with his production that no one should be too hard on him as a result of this but it was still an undoubted stinker from the veteran tonight.
Bojan Bogdanovic:
Effective night although would’ve also been nice to see him just shoot more. in 33 minutes Bojan put up 21 points on 6-11 shooting from the field (and 7-7 from the line) which is an excellent line to put up. But those 21 points led the team and they didn’t even break 100 points on the night. To put it bluntly, the night was a struggle offensively as the team shot 42% overall and just 27% from deep on the night, so when your leading scorer is actually scoring effectively when he shoots I would prefer her to just shoot more. Maybe it doesn’t work out but it’s as good an idea as any.
Isaiah Stewart:
Not an awful game for Stewart. 10 points and 12 rebounds (all defensive admittedly) in 31 minutes, but just after seeming to find his shot from deep last time out he went 0-7 from deep tonight so any hope that was changing is out the window. He generally did not look terribly comfortable for much of the night which was reflected in his team worst -25. The team has repeatedly said that he’s banged up so at this point I’d rather just force him to take another week or so off to see if he can get healthy. While I’ve been skeptical of Stewart’s entire game for a while, its worth at least making sure that his current problem isn’t related to being unhealthy.
Jalen Duren:
Nice bounce-back night for Duren. In 28 minutes he only scored 7 points against the swarming Celtic defense as no one other than Ivey on a couple of occasions seemed able to find him, but he did snag 14 rebounds (5 offensive) and play mostly effective defense. There was one play in particular where he got an and-1. Receiving the pass he had an opening and went up for the dunk before Grant Williams slid over to contest with a hard foul. Duren hung in the air and ended up finishing a double-clutching layup to get the and-1. It is remarkable that Duren is objectively a power finisher while still having the grace, skill, and soft touch to finish those kinds of looks. It’s also important to give him props for still trying to dunk everything he realistically can while having that kind of touch, many bigs who have the ability to finish those sorts of layups end up getting too cute too often which is exceptionally frustrating. Exciting stuff from Duren.
Isaiah Livers:
Still not sure what to make of him. A better game tonight with 5 points on 2-3 shooting but he continues to not seem like he’s got a good feel for his place in the team since coming back from injury. At least he didn’t have multiple bad turnovers tonight.
Saddiq Bey:
Playing 30 minutes off the bench, got 14 points on 5-15 shooting from the field which isn’t good enough but at least he tried to get shots up. He also ended up with 4 assists which is a big deal for the pass-averse Bey. And even though the scoring wasn’t efficient enough, it’s worth remembering that he was a significant part of the run the Pistons made to get back into the game.
Killian Hayes:
Similar story to Bey. Got 17 points but went 7-16 from the field to get there, but tack on 9 assists and going +3 in 32 minutes of a game you lost by 12 and we’ve got a winning night for Hayes who looked genuinely good for the first time in, what, at least a couple of week? The defense was committed, he was dealing as a passer, and hit some tough shots when he needed to. It would make a big difference for the rest of this season if he can get himself back to this kind of play.
Hamidou Diallo:
Only scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting in 17 minutes although I must admit it felt like more. Anyways he did fine even if he didn’t end up taking as many shots as he often does.
General:
Obviously no one should feel too bad about getting suffocated by the Celtics defense even if they are missing Jalen Brown. I don’t know, just weird. Felt like lots of guys played pretty well just no one was awesome, and I suppose that’s why the Celtics have the best record in the league. Felt like the Pistons did okay and they still lost by double-digits and didn’t score 100 points.