Game Recap/Notes: Game #65. Pistons 113 - Hawks 110 (OT). (18-47)
This train has no breaks.
Cory Joseph:
Only played 22 minutes in favor of more Hayes minutes tonight which is very nice.Joseph put up his typically meager stat-line with 4 points on 4 shots and 2 assists, but that’s ok because he only played 22 minutes.
CADE MOTHER FUCKING CUNNINGHAM:
Oh yeah we busting out the honors here. After a tough start to the game with several genuine in and out tough luck misses, Cade dug deep and carried the Pistons home. Finishing with 28 points on 28 shot equivalents, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists. he hit clutch bucket after clutch bucket, including 8 points in overtime (I think?). He continues to show such an impressive mental demeaner for a rookie by being exceptionally calm but still highly aggressive when the chips are down. He did it from all over the court with a couple of long-balls, tough drives to the hoop, and some midrange.
Saddiq Bey:
Ended up playing 32 minutes thanks to overtime but Isaiah Livers got in for him for much of the home-stretch of the game which was fine but also kind of bizarre. Bey was not good scoring just 9 points on 12 shot equivalents on the night. Not sure what to make of this, he just didn’t seem that engaged.
Isaiah Stewart:
Was not overly effective in his 10 minutes, took a nasty hit to his knee that as of now has not been diagnosed beyond a knee injury. Hopefully he is not out too long as the Pistons clearly missed him defensively.
Kelly Olynyk:
Played 17 minutes, did his job by hitting 3-4 shots for 6 points, but wasn’t overly impactful.
Marvin Bagley:
The degree to which it is so obvious how much this team has missed having a lob threat is almost comical with Bagley on the floor. His rampaging runs to the hoop and occasional post-up are a great addition to the offense as he finished with 19 points on 16 shots along with 10 rebounds.
The flip side of course is that he was utterly abused on defense, to his credit he did a good job on Trae Young on the final play of overtime. Obviously I hope Stew is not gone long, but I wouldn’t mind if he needs like 5 games to heal up so we can see Bagley with the starters more.
Killian Hayes:
Excellent game from Hayes. 13 points on 10 shot equivalents along with 6 assists, stifling defense, and intelligent play. He got hurt at the end of the game but I guess it was’t a real injury he just took a bad nuts shot which, in the grand scheme of things, would be good news. This was about as good as Hayes has looked in a Pistons uniform because he didn’t just hit a few threes, he got to the hoop, was aggressive, really impressive.
Isaiah Livers:
Suddenly playing 25 minutes including much of crunch time is Livers who scored 9 points on 6 shots (3-6 from deep) and played his tail off. I’m not totally sure what to make of Livers for longer term, but it’s nice to see him contributing a bit.
Rodney McGruder:
Played 14 minutes and scored 2 points.
General:
Before the season my general line was that this team would be among the league’s worst with pretty much one exception, that exception was that maybe Cade Cunningham really is the truth and that good from day one.
Well, the Pistons are still among the league’s worst and they probably won’t actually distance themselves from that (this streak will probably not go on till the end of the season), and Cade was not awesome from day one as he actually kind of flopped out of the gate.
At this point though, that is what is happening. I often talk about downplaying young players and their progressions, stating that you don’t want to plan on Stanley Johnson becoming Jimmy Butler because Butler is the exception. Cade is the exception. 20 year olds are not supposed to be this good, its not just the talent, its the understanding of the game. He’s the perfect combination of being unselfish enough to make good passes and let his teammates get theirs, but is also totally comfortable with the fact that he is the man and when its winning time it is time for him to take them home. How cool si this?