Opponent Scouting: Memphis Grizzlies. (16-9)
Tonight at 8:00pm EST the Detroit Pistons will continue their road trip to Memphis. The Pistons are on one day of rest and third game in four nights after losing to the Pelicans while the Grizzlies are on one day of rest after defeating the Thunder.
The Them:
We recently saw the Grizzlies of course, and not much has changed for them since then. This is a really good team, they come in with the 9th-best offense and 10th-best defense in the NBA which is good for the 8th-best net rating in the NBA. Ja Morant leads the way, an unbridled ball of energy and skill. Jaren Jackson Jr is large, can put the ball on the floor, block shots, and theoretically, he will hit more threes at some point. Steven Adams is back from injury, he’s strong and knows how to play, he won’t dazzle you with skills but sets hard screens and has decent touch around the hoop. Dillon Brooks is an effective scorer from all over the floor. John Konchar is starting and is a good shooter.
Brandon Clarke defends well and is an effective inside scorer, Tyus Jones takes good care of the ball and is a decent shooter, David Roddy is a bowling ball, Santi Aldama is large and can shoot.
Ja Morant is a superstar and the rest of the roster is full of guys who are good players and they play with great cohesiveness on both ends of the floor. You know the saying that teams take on the identity of their best player? That isn’t always true but it certainly is here, Morant is awesome but part of what makes him awesome is that he does the little stuff. Morant has all of the flash in the world but also does much of the nitty-gritty work that many superstars eschew.
Matchups to watch:
Letting Killian work defensively: I genuinely don’t mind the idea that this Pistons roster should switch a ton on defense. It makes sense and as they get more comfortable with it the idea could be effective. The one thing I don’t like about it (other than the young roster so regularly screwing it up) is that opponents have such an easy time avoid Hayes. Against the Pelicans the Pistons were not as switch heavy due to Zion which allowed Killian to spend large chunks attached to CJ McCollum. I would like to see what happens if we let Killian hook himself to Morant.
Bojan vs. Not getting ejected: This is pretty straight forward. I did feel its exceptionally weak by the refs to toss a guy who wasn’t exactly throwing a tantrum but Bojan has collected tons of techs already and was more or less asking to get tossed from a game. He’s too important to what the Pistons do to get tossed.
Saddiq Bey vs. Busting out of the slump: Finally found his three-point shot back last time out, if he could go on a tear over the next month it would do wonders for the Pistons. Also might make it harder to keep him on the bench.
The bigs: The Memphis big men, JJJ and Steven Adams, present unique challenges for Detroit. Both guys are bigger than either of the Pistons starters, and JJJ is skilled enough to cook as well. In addition, if the Pistons bigs hit a couple of threes early on it could make a big difference, because if both JJJ and Adams are able to freely roam the paint its going to be a long night.
So in conclusion…
Run for the hills if:
The Pistons are getting bullied inside
Marvin Bagley is still traumatized by what Zion did to him
Jaden Ivey still looks off.
Wink knowingly at your friends if:
Killian is locking up Ja
The Pistons bench gets a leg up
Stew and Bagley hit some early shots
Opportunities for me to look stupid:
Ja Morant cooks whenever Killian isn’t on him
The Grizzlies big-men cause issues the whole night
Bojan bounces back strong
The Pistons ride a big Bojan game and clutch defensive possessions from Killian to victory.
Pistons 117 - Grizziles 116