Game Recap/Notes: Game #6. Pistons 116 - Hawks 136 (1-5)
Tough for it to end up the way it did, but these two games against the Hawks were still a bit of a mark of improvement in my opinion.
Cade Cunningham:
For the second straight game, Cade seems to have taken my advice of coming out swinging instead of trying to pick his spots later in the game. Cunningham had (i think) 25 points in the first half and finished with 35 on 27 shot equivalents, he paired that with 8 assists and 9 rebounds against just 1 turnover. The only blemish on his night was foul trouble that sidelined him and it should be noted that at least two of those fouls were simply foolish decisions by Cade.
Overall this game was excellent for Cade. He came out swinging, the Hawks sat way off of him so he was totally content to walk into foul-line jumpers, once the Hawks started to step out onto him he went around to the hoop or drew extra defenders to slip passes through the defense. The entire offensive arsenal was on display for Cunningham and this was also the first time he had a great game with efficiency as well. He largely avoided overly tough shots, and took good care of the ball.
It is worth noting that taking dumb fouls has been a bit of a bug-a-boo for Cade in his young career, hopefully games like this help to hammer home that he’s too important to be doing that.
The one downside of this game tonight is it highlighted the degree to which the Pistons pretty much need Cade to be incredible to have a real chance.
Jaden Ivey:
Playing sick, and it looked like he was sick. 12 points on 12 shot equivalents is fine but he had no assists and took a lot of threes while only playing 23 minutes. Given that he was questionable before the game its fair to assume that he wasn’t feeling 100%. Given that, I’m not going to get too riled up about his performance tonight.
As a positive, Casey and the coaching staff definitely made an effort to get Ivey on the floor with the bench and my guess is that had Cade not gotten into foul trouble and were Ivey not sick then one of the two would’ve been on the floor the entire game.
Saddiq Bey:
Quiet night for Saddiq. 7 points on 10 shot attempts, went 0-4 from deep, made a couple of nice plays but mostly wasn’t overly involved in the game.
Bojan Bogdanovic:
22 points on 16 shot equivalents going 5-12 from the field and 9-9 from the line. Continues to be a steadying force in the Pistons offense with his ability to pull from deep over anyone and also put the ball on the floor occasionally.
Perhaps the best news here is that, when you get a genuinely good veteran player who ends up on a bad team they often go one of two ways.
Get pissy about how bad the team is and sulk their way out of the situation
Get excited about how many shots they get to take and while going on a mission to earn one more real contract.
Bojan seems to clearly be going for option two here. I’m not sure if the Pistons will end up keeping him all season or not, but he obviously decided to make the most of the situation.
Isaiah Stewart:
Technically one of his better games. 17 points on 13 shot equivalents while going 2-5 from deep. It should be noted that one of those threes was banked in in garbage time but hey.
Maybe he can use this game as a spring-board going forward, because the Hawks still refused to guard him so as long as that’s the case he needs to put up these sorts of numbers, and hopefully less of it in garbage time.
Isaiah Livers:
No meaningful impact. Played 15 minutes, went 0-3 from the field (all from deep).
Jalen Duren:
Remains impressive. 8 points while going 2-4 from the field and 4-6 from the line, a couple of huge blocks, just a great athlete who arrived in the NBA with a grown man’s body. I’m not totally sure when the right time to throw him to the starters will be, but each game it seems clearer and clearer that he will be starting by the time this season ends. The difference he makes on both ends of the floor is clearly visible. He even had a couple of possessions in this game where he got switched onto perimeter players and held up pretty well.
Corey Joseph:
1 point on 3 shots.
Killian Hayes:
2 points on 6 shots. Generally looked very bad outside of a couple of nice passes.
Hamidou Diallo:
Probably Diallos best game. 8 points on 3-4 shooting and 2-2 from the line. He attacked the hoop and created some offense out of nothing while also getting a couple of nice looks out of the dunkers’ spot. Diallo will need to string some more good outings together because as of now, he would be the most likely cut from the rotation when the Pistons get healthy.
General:
I enjoyed the attempt to stagger Ivey and Cade, also loved that they let Cade play through foul trouble for a long while even if Cade eventually got a dumb 5th. The points count the same no matter how much time is on the clock and pulling Cade is killing your chances anyways, so you might as well let him play and if he fouls out then he fouls out.