The Detroit Pistons were a heck of a lot more competitive against the New Orleans Pelicans than they were in the preseason opener versus the New York Knicks. There was some good and bad coming out of the six-point loss.
After getting blown out of Madison Square Garden (on national TV unfortunately), the Pistons were much more competitive at Smoothie King Arena. Detroit held the early lead but then the normal bugaboos, turnovers, lack of shooting, and some new problems, resulted in a 107-101 loss to have the Pistons fall to 0-2 in the preseason.
Luckily, Xfinity has NBA League Pass for free this week so I actually got to watch the game, even though Bally Sports Detroit did not show it (super weird as Bally affiliate in New Orleans was the one televising it).
There were many positives to the game for Detroit fans as well. To quote the old Joni Mitchell song, ‘I can see both sides now’, and dive into some quick observations:
Why the Milwaukee Bucks should be terrified of facing the Detroit Pistons this year (good things):
- Coach Dwane Casey went with a ‘Twin Towers’ lineup of Isaiah Stewart and Marvin Bagley III as the thought of Bojan Bogdanovic guarding Zion Williamson probably was not very appetizing. The ‘big’ lineup started off well, as Detroit bolted out to a 20-9 lead and dominated the boards.
- Rookie Jaden Ivey had praised heaped on him by Pels analyst Antonio Daniels, who is also a host on Sirius XM’s NBA channel. Said the former Purdue guard ‘could’ have been the No. 1 pick in the draft and expects big things out of him. Ivey did not shoot well from the floor (2-of-10) but was Steph Curry on the foul line (9-for-9) which gave him 14 points on a bad shooting night, a very good sign.
- After the Pelicans took a 13-point lead, the Pistons did not quit, and they battled back to make a game of it. Saddiq Bey missed a 3-pointer with 1:24 left that would have tied the score. Pistons never give up has been a hallmark of Dwane Casey coached teams.
- Speaking of Bey, he had a nice game on offense, finishing with a team-high 26 points and was a +6 while on the floor. He nailed 5 of 10 three-point tries, important as he started last season in a shooting slump.
- Braxton Key looked good again. Well, according to NBA.com, he is now Kemba Walker, as that is what he was listed as, on their boxscore. But the 6-8 forward came off the bench and, as usual, hustled his tail off. He had 10 points and five rebounds in 20 minutes and was a team-high +9. If he keeps playing like this, it will be tough to have him remain a two-way player.
Hey, Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson are looking good to draft (not so good things)
- The ‘switch-everything’ defense had some problems, like Cade Cunningham having to guard Zion Williamson, and tiny Pelicans guard Jose Alverado (28 points) being able to speed past the bigs forced to guard him. There will have to be some tweaking involved. There is no need to see Cory Joseph guard Nikola Vucevic.
- Marvin Bagley III still not so hot on defense. The worst victim of the switching, Bagley fouled out in 12 minutes and he was not that effective defensively when he was in the game. That was a problem in his game in Sacramento and continues here. The guy is 6-foot-11 and athletic, one would think he should be more of a presence on defense.
- Killian Hayes still can’t shoot. Hey, the former No. 7 overall pick was fine passing (despite 5 turnovers), playing defense and even rebounding, he just could not make a shot, going 1-for-7, and 0-for-5 from three). Heard this song before?
- Pistons go cold offensively. After building an 11-point lead, the Pistons went stone cold from the field when the bench came in. Bojan Bogadnovic (2 of 8 on threes) did not have a good shooting night and no one else stepped up. The revved up Pistons offense we had heard about was not around in a crucial part of the game.
- After 22 turnovers against the Knicks, the Pistons had 22 turnovers again in New Orleans, different culprits this time. Ivey had zero turnovers in New York but seven this game, while Hayes committed five. That needs to be tightened up.
Detroit was missing Hamidou DIallo, Jalen Duren, Nerlens Noel and Alec Burks due to injuries, but the Pelicans did not have three of its top players: C.J. McCollum, Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones.
Losing preseason games do not mean much (the Nets are also 0-2 and they should be OK when season starts) but it would be nice to have a winning feelings entering the regular season. Two home games this upcoming week would be a nice time to post a ‘W’.