Opponent Scouting: New York Knicks (5-6)
Tonight at 7:30pm EST the Detroit Pistons continue their road trip, this time in New York to face the Knicks. Both teams are on one day of rest with the Pistons having lost to the Boston Celtics while the New York Knicks have fallen against Brooklyn.
The Them:
The Knicks are about where most people figured they would be. They clearly don’t suck, but they are wholly unimpressive. They come in with the 23rd-ranked offense and 19th-ranked defense in the league, which accurately reflects the fact that they have gotten blown out of the water in several of their losses.
The Knicks have a regular-sized three of RJ Barrett, Jalen Bruson, and Julius Randle. Brunson is the new arrival who is scoring 19 points and dishing almost 7 assists per game. He is wickedly effective in scoring inside the paint although he has not yet found his outside shot with the Knicks and is shooting below 30% from deep this season. Julius Randle is a human bulldozer who will force his way inside the rim for physical finishes and draw fouls. He does take his share of three-pointers and isn’t a terrible passer but he does tend to hold the ball too much. That said, Randle’s efficiency has been very good out of the gate. Barrett rounds out the top three, also scoring just over 19 per game. He isn’t as physical as Randle but similar idea. He has good size and skill, can get inside and finish, and isn’t a terrible passer but doesn’t pass a ton. Barrett is, like Brunson, struggling with his outside shot as of now and still has some refining to do with his game overall.
After those three it is largely various forms of role players. Jericho Sims is starting with Mitchell Robinson out, he’s tall and does basic big-man stuff but not a ton else. Cam Reddish is long and athletic but continues to not really put things together to be a consistently effective NBA player. Obi Toppin can jump really high and is shooting well from deep but remains something of the wrong sort of tweener. Isaiah Hartenstein is skilled as a big, Immanuel Quickley can shoot, Derrick Rose can still get into the paint, Evan Fournier can still shoot and do some creation for himself.
As with most Thibs-coached teams, the Knicks tend to play hard defensively, but also like most Thibs-coached teams the offense is often stagnant. It doesn’t help that the team’s three best offensive players are all, at their core, isolation scorers, but it’s still a problem.
Matchups to watch:
Cade vs. Bouncing back: One of the worst nights of Cade’s young career against the Celtics last time out. It isn’t the end of the world to have a bad night, it is important to bounce right back. Especially with Mitchell Robinson out, he should be able to get into the paint more.
Pistons vs. Attacking inside: The Knicks’ front line is not as tight as it is now a bit weak without Mitchell there. The Pistons should be aggressive in trying to get to the paint.
Pistons vs. Hitting threes: just 7-33 from deep last time out. Let’s not do that again. Saddiq and Bojan in particular can’t both be off on the same night like that.
Forwards vs. Forwards: The physicality and athleticism of the Knicks forwards (Barrett and Randle) are a tough ask for the Pistons. Both Bey and Bogdanovic will need to come ready to fight for every inch without fouling. If you play good defense both guys are capable of forcing the issue into bad shooting nights, but you need to put in that effort.
Killian Hayes vs. Stringing them together: An actual, positive outing for Hayes last time out. Do it again young man, lets put some juice into the Killian Hayes belief-o-meter.
Stewart vs. Forcing defense to actually defending him: For all my bitching (and I will still say it is well deserved) Stewart has taken advantage of the total lack of attention he receives by slowly getting his scoring efficiency up. He is now scoring 12 points on nearly 60% TS% which is closer to where he needs to be. If he can keep up that kind of efficiency for another couple of weeks teams will have to start keeping a man on him, even if they don’t do so when he’s beyond the line.
So in conclusion…
Run for the hills if:
Cade looks awful again
Randle is bullying his way to the hoop repeatedly
Brunson snaps out of his three-point shooting slump
Wink knowingly at your friends if:
Cade bounce-back
Randle and Barrett are taking a bunch of mid-rangers to poor effect
The Pistons bench hangs with the Knicks bench.