Detroit Pistons stock exchange: Who is trending after Pistons’ 124-117 win over the Dallas Mavericks

Second Half

In the third quarter, it took them two minutes but the starters made a run. They cut the lead to three points at some point and were generally performing well finding easy buckets in transition. However, the difference came in the halfcourt where the starting lineup already shows good signs of offensive flow.

They used staple sets in Casey’s offense to create easy points. There’s no question we’re going to see that all year. Check out that second play where Jackson is supposed to come off a Griffin dribble handoff but sets a step-up screen instead. Great misdirection leads to easy buckets.

Griffin and Drummond were able to find points in the pick-and-roll and Jackson found some open shots from the perimeter generated by nice ball movement. The ball was swinging and the offense was flowing. Great signs all around.

And then, when the Pistons were trailing by five, something happened that all fans were waiting to see. The coach went all-offense on us and put Rose, Jackson, Kennard, Griffin and Drummond, the kamikaze lineup.

That much firepower is very tough to handle for a defense. You got a lot of ball handling, passing and shooting but the most important thing is that everybody exerts a ton of gravity. With Rose handling and Drummond rolling, sending help becomes a necessity for the defense and this lineup knows how to take advantage and find the open man.

With that being said, I don’t really know if Kennard serves a true enough purpose. There’s only one ball and putting that many ball handlers in a lineup will certainly get you diminishing returns. Kennard will naturally turn into a mostly off-ball threat and I tend to believe Snell would be a better fit here.

Drummond can do enough things to keep you afloat on defense while you get your offense going but covering for the other four may be too tall a task. Snell would provide a more active presence on defense and still be a spot-up threat on offense. However, in last night’s game, the kamikaze lineup did quite well.

Then, in the fourth quarter, the bench lineup came back for a second stint and they rode that wave to victory. Rose and Kennard were in a groove and were able to make some tough shots to put the Pistons ahead.

Maker disrupted some shots on defense which he certainly can do but most importantly he caught some passes, which he can’t always do. Morris also played well. He drew a charge and he was able to punish smaller defenders on the low block.

Now, that we kind of went over last night’s game, let’s see who disappointed and who impressed.