Pistons Take on Clippers on the Road
By J.M. Poulard
Essentials
- Teams: Detroit Pistons (5-19) at Los Angeles Clippers (16-7)
- Date: December 15
- Time: 10:30 p.m.
- Television: FSD
Get in the Game
How did the Detroit Pistons bounce back from a 13-game losing streak? Naturally, by winning the first two games of their three-road Western Conference trip.
The Pistons will face the Los Angeles Clippers tonight to close out the time away from home in a rematch of a late November game with Lob City. Los Angeles was victorious at the Palace of Auburn Hills despite a subpar shooting performance from Blake Griffin (6-for-17 from the field).
The Clippers survived Griffin’s poor outing thanks to a conqueror of worlds named Chris Paul. He controlled the contest with 23 points and seven assists on 9-for-12 shooting. Sure, Jamal Crawford contributed 25 points, but Paul was the maestro of it all, and he will be the determining factor again tonight.
Our very own Dan Feldman offered as much in a 3-on-3 post over at Clipperblog:
When the Pistons and Clippers meet, Paul typically controls the game on both ends of the floor with little discomfort. For Detroit to have a chance, Jennings has to disrupt Paul at least a little bit. When the Clippers star faces no resistance, he makes the game easy for all his teammates, and that’s just too much for the Pistons to overcome.
It’s incredibly difficult to stymie Paul, and that’s exactly what the Pistons will have to do in order to limit the league’s third best offense. The Clippers will run pick-and-rolls until the Pistons get sick of it, and then L.A. will run some more.
It all comes down to creating favorable matchups via defensive switches, hedges or double teams. Paul diagnoses what defenses are doing and then hits them at the weakest spot. That ability often means he gets to create for others or score himself. The part that gets fewer pubs is his knack for setting up others to make plays.
Indeed, anytime Paul occupies two defenders, it gives teammates the opportunity to go against a defense down a player for a second or two. That’s how Los Angeles ends up with Griffin throwing lob passes to DeAndre Jordan for easy dunks. Also, it affords Crawford chances to dance with the ball and attack his man without worrying about help defenders.
Although one might think that the solution is merely a matter of packing the paint, it’s not quite that easy. The Clippers make 38.3 percent of their treys – second best in the league – and get teams all out of whack with their pick-and-rolls. When teams sag off of ball-handlers on ball screens, they yield uncontested mid-range jumpers, or worse yet, give a fast ball-handler a head of steam and clear path to the basket against a retreating defender.
Thus, it will be important for the Pistons not to get too comfortable with one strategy. They will have to alternate between hard traps, soft ones, hedges, switches and sagging off ball screens. The best way to throw Paul off is to keep him guessing until the last moment. Granted, CP3 still manages to slice up defenses even when forced a bit off his rocker, but that’s how the Pistons must operate.
If Detroit executes a great defensive game plan, they might just close out the road trip at 3-0.
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