Luke Kennard’s top three games with the Detroit Pistons

2019-2020 season opener against Indiana

Heading into his third season with the Pistons, the expectation was that Luke was going to have a breakout year. Whatever exactly that would entail, we knew that we were going to see an iteration of himself that we hadn’t seen yet.

Dwane Casey often elects to play him with the second unit to bring some scoring off the bench. So it came as no surprise to see that theme repeat itself with Bruce Brown in the starting lineup instead of Luke.

What we didn’t anticipate was that Kennard would explode for 30 points right out the gate. In the season opener against the Pacers, he scored 30 points on 61.5 percent shooting.

In a performance that was dominated by three-point shooting (67.7 percent) and free throws, (80 percent) the ultra aggressive version of Kennard that we were seeing was long awaited.

The quick trigger on his jump shot, his ability to effortlessly switch hands on the dribble, and his lightning step back were all on display. He was dissecting Indiana’s defense.

With 1:30 left in the game and Detroit holding on to a 7 point lead, Kennard delivered the dagger. He set a screen on Myles Turner in the paint which freed up Andre Drummond to set up a pick and roll with Derrick Rose.

Kennard then freed himself from the screen set on Turner and released to the three-point line, where Rose found him for the open look.

His aggressiveness that night drew 10 attempts from the free throw line, and it felt like a genuine precursor to what should have been this season.