Opponent Scouting: New York Knicks. (10-7)
Tonight the Pistons will be on the road in New York to face the Knicks. The Pistons are on the second night of a back-to-back after a blowout loss to the Lakers to make history for a losing streak, while the Knicks are on one day of rest following a victory over the Hornets. Tipoff is 7:30pm EST. And yes there was no recap last night because I shut it off. There will be a recap of this one, I don’t know for sure about a pod because I’ve got some lingering throat issues but I may tough it out I don’t know for sure.
The Them:
The Knicks are not awesome but they are pretty good, the bad news is that anything above “morbidly horrible” is enough to slaughter this Pistons team.
Jalen Brunson is a rock at point-guard for the Knicks, averaging 24 points and 5 assists per game with great outside shooting and a crafty interior game. Julius Randle is up and down, and this season has been more down than up, but he’s a bully who also passes and can shoot a bit. The efficiency is horrid but he is averaging 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists per game so maybe the Pistons should try to bring him in and make him the franchise cornerstone. RJ Barrett is hitting threes now and is a talented scorer for himself, averaging 19 points per game, Barrett could still round his game out a bit more (the defense comes and goes, he still doesn’t pass much) but he’s certainly appeared to make a stride this season. Mitchell Robinson is very large and athletic, he is one of the league’s most prolific rebounders and rim defenders which will pose a challenge for Jalen Duren. Quintin Grimes is the nominal 5th starter who only plays 23 minutes per game but defends and shoots a bit on the wing.
Josh Hart comes off the bench but plays more than Grimes most nights, he’s a rabid defender who isn’t all that good of an offensive player but he is at least capable on that end most of the time. Immanuel Quickley is the spark-plug off the bench, averaging 16 per game in 25 minutes. He comes into the game and is looking to score and he is good at it.
Donte DiVincenzo is a solid shooter, and Isaiah Hartenstein is a large human who is skilled on offense to round out the rotation.
This team is pretty solid top to bottom, you get the feeling that they can’t be better than just “pretty good” without Randle finding his game back but once again, for our purposes they are more than good enough to obliterate the Pistons.
Matchups to watch:
Pistons vs. Effort: I’m pretty slow to get to the effort issue. The reality is that, if nothing else, the money is so absurd that almost everyone plays hard most of the time in today’s NBA. Anyone who pretends that this isn’t true isn’t really watching. The Pistons, and I mean the ENTIRE TEAM, have simply not shown the fire they need. Monty Williams sounded pissed last night so hopefully they are fired up a bit.
Duren vs. Robinson: Two very large and very athletic guys who both like to control the paint. Should be one of the better matchups of the night and one of the few I think the Pistons could actually come out ahead in.
Pistons vs. Containing Brunson: I wouldn’t be shocked if Monty Williams makes some drastic rotation/lineup changes after last night so I don’t know exactly who’s responsibility it will be, but Brunson in the guy who drives this bus so keeping him contained is of paramount importance.
REFS: Look, the Pistons suck, I said all Summer they were going to suck. Bad teams tend to not draw as many fouls because they are so bad that you don’t need to foul them to guard them. HOWEVA. This is getting absurd, call some fouls.
Run for the hills if:
The Knicks show up to the arena
There isn’t some freak snow-storm that causes the game to be canceled
Maybe a freak gasoline fight accident too idk
Wink knowingly at your friends if:
The game is canceled by some freak storm or gasoline fight accident
The Pistons are down by less than 30 at any point of the second half
Troy Weaver is fired during the game
Opportunities for me to look stupid:
The Pistons will lose..