Game Recap/Notes: game #71. Pistons 100 - Nuggets 119. (16-55)
Bit of a bummer. For most of the game it seemed like the Pistons were up to the task of keeping the Nuggets in a slump, buys made plays with tough shot making, tough rebounds, good defensive plays. Then in the last few minutes it suddenly all stopped and we ended up with a fairly lopsided scoreline.
Killian Hayes:
Another game of what appears to possibly be par for the course at this point with Hayes. 10 points on 5-12 shooting is not good but he did have 7 assists and several nice defensive plays with a steal and two blocks. He also generally seemed to do a good job of running the point tonight. Overall a fairly uneventful night for Hayes but certainly not disastrous.
Rodney McGruder:
I caused some confusion when on my podcast I said that I’d like to see McGruder come back next season assuming they have space for a back-of-the-bench guy and this stretch has been a good look for me. McGruder is still not a good NBA player, he’s too small to be effective on defense and does very little on offense other than shoot. HOWEVA, he does shoot the ball well as he finished with 20 points on 7-15 shooting (6-10 from deep) and the veteran leadership stuff even shows up tonight as the smallest guy in the starting lineup fought on the glass for 8 boards including a pair of offensive rebounds. He also snagged 3 steals for good measure. McGruder isn’t a good player but as a last man and veteran in the locker room, he’s exactly what you want.
Jaden Ivey:
Similar story to Hayes. Did a good job of running point to the tune of 6 assists (even if, like Hayes that is against 4 turnovers) with some excellent feeds to players inside for dunks and outside for long-balls. But he did not hit enough shots. Ivey finished 4-15 from the field and just 4-8 at the line for 14 points. If he even hits a few more of his free-throws this is not as poor but alas. Still not an awful game for Ivey, but like Hayes it wasn’t much of a positive.
Eugene Omoruyi:
Got out to a quick start and finished with 11 points on 5-9 shooting (1-3 from deep) with 3 boards. He continues his ways since arriving in Detroit as generally looking solid as a 3 and D wing. He’s obviously limited in various ways but he’s been a nice addition to the team.
James Wiseman:
Ho hum but perfectly acceptable game from Wiseman. In 30 minutes of play he scored 14 points on 7-14 shooting from the field with 9 boards and an assist. As per usual the defense was bad and you want him to be more efficient on offense but not a bad outing for Wiseman.
Jalen Duren:
Great night for Duren. In just 27 minutes of play he scored 15 points on 7-10 shooting from the field with 13 boards, 4 assists(!!), and 3 impressive steals. The thing of most note today is that he got on the floor with Wiseman for a while and Duren threw two, that is one and two, excellent lobs to Wiseman for dunks. Which…….. I’m on record believing very strongly that playing Wiseman and Duren next to each other is a bad idea but if Duren can pass like that then I am suddenly less sure. They didn’t get run off the floor when they were out there together is all I’m going to leave it at for now.
Cory Joseph:
Played 31 minutes and scored 13 points on 3-7 shooting.
RJ Hampton:
No impact on the game. Played 15 minutes and had an and 1.