Game Recap/Notes: Game #76. Pistons 123 - Nets 130. (20-56)
Tough to lose but still what a great game. Got to see great players be great, the Pistons were highly competitive, Cade showed out on a big stage.
CADE MOTHER-FUCKING CUNNINGHAM:
34 points on 25 shot equivalents with 6 assists while battling some mysterious back issue? Oh yeah, that is worth the honors for sure. He did it from all levels, mid-range, at the hoop, drives, floaters, and shooting well from deep with some REALLY deep threes many of which were off the dribble. Especially impressive tonight was it showed off one of his best traits which is his competitiveness and attitude. He clearly believed that he belonged in a duel with Kevin Durant, and went and did it. He has the perfect mix of wanting the ball in big moments and never being afraid, but he isn’t an irrational confident guy where he is doing dumb stuff. He’s more than comfortable to be a sharing teammate, get other guys involved, make the right plays, and let other players have their moments, but he also knows he is the baddest dude on the team and when its winning time, that’s his time. What an absolute joy of a basketball player.
Cory Joseph:
I don’t want to talk about Cory. He was fine but whatever, its too bad that Saban has proven to be utterly incapable because if he had played better we could just shut down Joseph along with Jerami Grant but I get that you want Cory around yet.
Saddiq Bey:
15 points on 14 shots aren’t great but it is fine, he had the misfortune of spending a decent amount of the night guarding Kevin Durant which went poorly but I don’t want to hold that against him. Overall a bit disappointing because he got off to a fast start so it looked like he was in for a big night but he faded as the game went on.
Marvin Bagley:
Come-down after the last game with just 11 points and 5 rebounds but he remains hyper-efficient. I remain highly skeptical of the Bagley/Stewart pairing up front but at the very least I appreciate the team giving it a real look by shutting down Jerami. I remain a firm believer that when in a rebuilding situation you should be trying this sort of thing, even if it probably won’t work, at least we will know for sure going into next season that Bagley either needs to play center or play next to a very different center from Stewart.
The one thing in the back of my mind with Bagley, is that I hope we are not all over-reacting to how good he often looks on offense simply because the team has so obviously lacked an athletic big for the last couple of years.
Isaiah Stewart:
15 points and 11 rebounds is a tidy stat-line although he needed 15 equivalents to get those 15 points. This is especially disappointing given that he started off so hot. He did go 2/3 from deep though which remains a potentially huge development even if I’m not sure what to make of it.
On one hand, Stewart becoming a real threat from deep would be a genuine game-changer for his potential as a player, on the other hand, he also had that stretch late last season where he started shooting more and then showed up this year refusing to shoot. I will continue to say that he should just shoot more from all over the floor, even mid and short-range jumpers, just to get him confident in his jumper.
Kelly Olynyk:
8 points, 4 shots, was part of a tidy run by the bench-mob in the first half. Was fine.
Frank Jackson:
Still nice to see him back on the floor. 11 points on 10 shots, couldn’t get any of his three long-guns to fall. His energy as a bench-scorer remains excellent and it’s a good role for him.
Killian Hayes:
The belief-O-meter is rising.
Had a filthy step-back, made some big defensive plays, attacked the hoop in the half-court. He really is stringing together a solid little stretch here, and him showing something in the final couple of weeks is a REALLY big deal for both him and the Pistons.
Rodney McGruder:
He played.
Braxton Key:
Played 24 minutes, struggled offensively with 5 points on 8 shots but he made some positive plays. Not sure exactly what I think of him as potentially snagging a longer-term spot but he’s certainly not hopeless.
General:
With Grant out KD was always going to be a nightmare, the team showed well and more performances like this is what Cade needs to try and get rookie of the year and Killian remains a big development. Fun game.