Detroit Pistons: Will this play help break Jaden Ivey out of his slump?

The Detroit Pistons will not be happy that they dropped a winnable game to the Brooklyn Nets in which they once led by 19 points.

They won’t be happy that their defense fell apart in the second half, nor that their 4th-quarter offense once again relied on low percentage isolation plays.

But one positive from the night was that rookie Jaden Ivey scored 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, a welcome line for a guy who has been struggling mightily of late.

Over his last 15 games, Ivey has still been scoring over 14 per game, but did it on 37 percent shooting from the field and just 25 percent from long range, a big drop off from where he was early in the season.

Shooting slumps happen, especially for rookie guards and Ivey’s challenge has been made more difficult by the absence of Cade Cunningham, who is officially out for the season.

But sometimes all it takes is one or two shots to get going, a layup, a few made free throws, and hopefully that is what happened last night for Jaden Ivey.

Detroit Pistons: Jaden Ivey’s huge dunk

Ivey set the tone for himself last night in the first quarter when he was able to beat Yuta Watanabe off the dribble for a huge poster dunk:

Ivey got T’d up for staring him down afterwards but it was worth it, as you could almost see the confidence come back into the rookie.

This season is not about wins and losses for the Detroit Pistons, as they are a rebuilding team without their best player, so it will be the little things in terms of player development and chemistry that matter this most this season.

The Pistons need to get Ivey playing like he was early in the season, fearless, attacking the defense and not settling for long jumpers early in the shot clock.

He appears to have gotten some of his MoJo back last night on the offensive end and hopefully he can string together some good games with more efficient shooting.

Now we just need to work on the defense.