The Detroit Pistons take on the Milwaukee Bucks at home for game three of the NBA Playoffs. The Pistons are currently down 2 games to 0.
The Detroit Pistons have underwhelmed in the first round of the 2018-19 NBA Playoffs against the eastern conference team who held the best regular season record in the league – the Milwaukee Bucks. Saturday night at home in LCA, the Pistons will be allotted another swing at the east coast giants who have a strong MVP candidate in tow, while their best player moonlights as a fan for yet another game of the series.
Without Blake Griffin, the lapse of court production has seemingly carved out certain defeat for Detroit. But, as the cliché goes, “The series doesn’t start until someone wins on the road.” Detroit will be faced with an uphill battle as Milwaukee’s offensive efficiency and defensive stoutness has kept them at bay and out of contention. If Dwane Casey wants to protect home court as the Bucks did in both games one and two of the first-round series, the Pistons will need to check tape and recognize these three keys to a possible victory.
Communication is key, especially on defense
The league has made a sharp turn in which aspects of the game it values the most. Defense still sits as one of the most underrated characteristics of a contest. The Detroit Pistons are anemic offensively, but more glaringly, cannot put a top on the Milwaukee Bucks’ game-plan, if even for a moment. Giannis Antetokounmpos is arguably a top-five player in the Association.
Without an all-star, the Pistons have to extend Andre Drummond in that defensive assignment. Whereas Griffin would likely be given the challenge, Drummond is switched between guarding the Greek MVP candidate and being stretched from the basket by Brook Lopez’s 36.5 percent three-point field-goal percentage.
There have been several moments in the series where the Detroit Pistons have been unable to communicate adequately on defense, which creates a hemorrhage of offense for the Bucks, instead of a slow leak Detroit can possibly plug. The threat of Antetokounmpo’s abilities in the painted area forces the Pistons’ from their game-plan and men end up hurling their bodies in his direction for double, even triple teams, leaving their own assignments open further out from the hoop.
The Milwaukee Bucks are good enough offensively without the Detroit Pistons having lapses in coverage. The Motor City squad’s defense need to fire on all cylinders, which includes yelling over the noise to ensure that all of the Bucks’ options are accounted for.
Thon Maker was brought on to be and do more. That has to happen in Game 3.
After being shunned for playing time in Milwaukee, the assumption was that Thon Maker would come out swinging against the Bucks for undervaluing his multi-dimensional skill set. Over games 1 and 2, the stretch-forward has proven the decision warranted. Even with a memorable block against Giannis, Maker has a -11 plus/minus over Games 1 and 2, only averaging five points an outing with zero-made three-point shots of the nine long-ball attempts he has put up.
There can be no one more annoyed with his offensive pace than Maker himself, but he must turn things around if the Detroit Pistons are to take advantage of the Bucks, if only for one night.
Defensively, Maker has been available. His challenges around the rim at least make Bucks’ players reconsider their shots down-low. The smash-mouth dunk Giannis put on top of his head after Maker blocked No. 34’s shot just a possession before is a side-effect of the Australian’s willingness to put himself in the line of fire. There just has to be more. His handles and effectiveness with the corner-three demand more influence over the game, especially as he starts in place of a benched Blake Griffin.
No one should expect him to replace Griffin’s numbers, pound-for-pound. That would be a dream deferred. What Thon Maker can ensure is that he makes smarter basketball plays, namely on the offensive end, and allows his shot to come to him. Forcing long chucks will only dig the Detroit Pistons into a hole that they cannot climb out of.
Reggie Jackson needs to join in the three-point flurry
Reggie Jackson is averaging 15.0 points, 6.5 assists and 43.4 percent shooting from the floor. Normally, that stat line would be ideal for the Pistons’ guards. Against Milwaukee’s Eric Bledsoe 21-point average, Jackson has been quiet and his lack of opportunities from beyond the perimeter can attribute to that. Jackson’s only three-point make came in Game 2, as the point created the shot on his own off a screen from Thon Maker.
There was a specific play on the ensuing offensive possession for the Detroit Pistons where, coming off of a Drummond-screen, Luke Kennard tried to force a shot down the throats of Brook Lopez, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bucks’ utility man Pat Connaughton. It was a drive-and-kick opportunity flushed away – with Jackson in the corner – as Bucks’ defense stifled the attempt and were rewarded a Khris Middleton three-pointer on the other end of the floor.
Players like Wayne Ellington and Langston Galloway, the Pistons designated shooters, have gobbled up many of Detroit’s three-point attempts, but Reggie Jackson can’t be left on the porch of the party. Part of his development this season was Jackson’s willingness to usher a new approach to his game, which included being on standby as a shooter.
Milwaukee’s defense is stout, but there are scarce opportunities being created for Jackson to shoot the deep-ball and the Detroit Pistons desperately need three-point contributions from any player that has the stable capability of shooting them. In Game 3, expect to see Coach Dwane Casey create more opportunities for Jackson from the distance, even as his ball-handling responsibilities have increased monumentally with Blake Griffin on the bench.
The Detroit Pistons are not the better team in this series, but effort and an effective game-plan can change things.
A missed shot here.
Foul trouble there.
We could look up and the Detroit Pistons could just steal themselves a game.