Game Recap/Notes: Game #66. Pistons 117 - Wizards 119. (15-51)
There is a very real chance that the Pistons don’t manage 20 wins this season. A comical mark. Plenty of good in this game I suppose, we can talk about how Ivey was aggressive and effective, new face Eugene Omoruyi actually looked pretty good, RJ Hampton showed his first signs of life, and Wiseman and Bagley were both moderately effective. And yet, this game still sucked. Losing on a last-second tip in sucks. The team is clearly ready for the season to be over and so am I.
Jaden Ivey:
Great night for Ivey and the sort of night that I’ve been hoping for most of the season. With so many guys out we can live with an inefficient night but they need him to be aggressive and that’s what we got. His 26 points came on 9-20 from the field and 5-6 from the line (that's 26 points on 23 shot equivalents) which is passable but not great, and his 12 assists came against 5 turnovers and he committed 5 fouls. HOWEVA, when the roster is depleted the way it was tonight you roll with it. Ivey was the man in charge the entire night and it mostly wen okay, not great, but okay and when you’re a rookie in the situation that Ivey now finds himself in that actually counts for more than okay. It is however, truly baffling that he didn’t even get to touch the ball on the Pistons final possession after making several great plays down the stretch.
Rodney McGruder:
Did his job. went 3-4 from deep to finish with 9 points and had 3 rebounds. Obviously McGruder provides very little other than shooting and veteran leadership but that’s all he’s on the team for so I’m not going to give him Cory Joseph treatment. He did well.
Isaiah Livers:
Another not great night for Livers. 9 points on 3-12 shooting (with those three makes coming from beyond the arc on 9 shots) which included a brutal final possession where he didn’t give the ball to Ivey before attempting a drive where he turned it over. Not only is that a awful way to go about the final possession, he also did so quickly enough it allowed plenty of time for the Wizards to come down and score themselves. That said, the defense is still pretty good and it isn’t a huge shocker to see him exhibit some growing pains in a larger role. He does need to have some better games down the stretch though in order to try and cement himself as a worthwhile piece going forward.
Marvin Bagley:
Not a huge night but an effective one on offense for Bagley. 15 points on 6-9 (nice) shooting form the field and 3-3 at the line, the truly outstanding thing was somehow finishing with 4 assists which may be the most he’s had in a Pistons uniform? Would’ve liked him to try and force things a bit more but he was fine on offense. On defense not so much, but whatever we know how his defense is.
James Wiseman:
Another game showing the offensive upside. 21 points on 10-13 shooting from the field with 5 rebounds and he joined Bagley with a whooping (for him) 3 assists. He gave the Wizards trouble all night and Ivey seems to have quickly formed a positive on court relationship with Wiseman just as he did with Duren which suggests to me that actually Jaden Ivey just works really well with athletic bigs who roll hard to the basket. The defense remains…. not good but we knew this. For now it is great to see him having another positive outing to continue to build confidence and show what he brings to the table.
Eugene Omoruyi:
Wow. 15 points and 6 rebounds in 23 minutes of play. Not bad for a guy on a 10 day contract who only crossed the 300 career minute threshold for his career tonight. I’m not going to pretend that Omoruyi is actually all that good or this could be the start of a pleasant surprise. The important thing is actually to note that putting a big, physical, competent defender on the wing for this team does make things look noticeably better. I hope they continue to give him run this season so that even if he isn’t on the team next season they can almost treat it as a soft opening before bringing in a better version of him this Summer.
Cory Joseph:
I guess I can’t pass over him tonight. 11 points on 4-7 shooting in 31 minutes and went +3.
RJ Hampton:
Hampton has been awful since arriving in Detroit but tonight was probably his best game all the same. 11 points on 3-7 shooting, 3-4 from the line, and 2-5 from deep. I wouldn’t say much about this game is something to build on, we already knew that on an occasional night he managed to hit a couple of threes he didn’t look as worthless. The problem is that those nights are not very often and he doesn’t bring much else. Still good to see something positive though.
General:
I don’t know man. Techincally this is the ideal game. A competitive game where some youngins’ played well but ultimately lost to boost the tank. But it just sucks. There are now 16 games left and if the Pistons don’t win 5 of them it will be just the second time in franchise history that the Pistons will fail to win 20 games, with the last one being in the 79-80 season where they won just 16. The last four years are essentially garunteed to be 4 of the worst 9 seasons in franchise history and this will very likely be the second worst. Maybe they get Wembeyama and he’s everything they say he is, maybe Cade comes back better and stronger, maybe Ivey is as good as I think he is. I am not without hope for the future. But It is hard to watch this 9 game skid when you consider that it wasn’t that long ago that the Pistons could claim to be the league’s best small-market/non-destination city franchise only to now have gone more time in between winning a single playoff game than there was between the second Bad Boys championship and the going to work title. Losing sucks.