Under the Hood – it’s time to see what’s really going on inside this Pistons team.
Firing on All Cylinders
Ausar Thompson saw his second straight game of being second on the team in field goal attempts,
and Aggressive Ausar is officially here.
He was crucial late into last night’s game as he single-handedly kept three straight possessions alive with offensive rebounds. He was putting them back in himself or finding teammates for easy buckets. His leaping ability is unreal – he skies over Derrick White in the last clip.
Transmission Trouble
Cade had another high-turnover game, but I noticed at least two that I wouldn’t put the blame on him.
In this first clip, he’s driving towards the rim with Duren behind him, but he gets contested and wants to bail out of the shot late so he makes a pass to the corner. Yet, Duncan Robinson was also cutting, and I think Cade expected Duncan to be in the corner. With Cade, Ausar, and Duren already inside the arc, I think Duncan needs to realize he has to stay corner on this possession to keep the floor spaced out.
Second, and this won’t be the last time we see this, but it looks like Duren was fouled and it wasn’t called. You can see Jaylen Brown push Duren in the back, and Cade is looking for that pushing call on the way back down the court.
Mechanic’s Note
I had to save this one for the end in case anyone missed it, but did y’all see Jalen Duren take and make a long mid-range jumper? It wasn’t exactly in rhythm or within the flow of the offense, but at least he was confident and knocked it down. We’ll see if these attempts continue as we get further into the season.
