The Detroit Pistons take on the Miami Heat tonight on the road in a return to the place where Duncan Robinson spent most of his career.
No team or coach in the league knows Robinson better than Erik Spoelstra and the Heat, and we'll see them use every trick in their playbook to not only slow Robinson down, but to target him on the other end.
But the Pistons do have ways they can turn Miami's strategy against them.
The Pistons have to make Miami pay for playing Duncan Robinson tight
The Heat know exactly how dangerous Robinson can be from 3-point range and also know that the Pistons need his shooting to help carry their offense.
They will play Robinson tight, follow him around every screen, bump him and generally try to make his life difficult. This is where Robinson can be a decoy for the Pistons who uses his off-ball gravity to create opportunities for other players.
Robinson's off-ball action draws the attention of the defense, and if the Heat overplay, the Pistons have to burn them with lobs and backdoor cuts that take advantage of the space his movement creates.
Robinson doesn't always have to shoot to be a part of the offense, so if Miami sells out to stop him, the Pistons have ways to use that to their advantage.
Detroit also has a weak link on Miami to target on the other end.
The Pistons have to target Klay Thompson
Klay Thompson was once a very good defender, but he's now 36 years old and not moving like he used to. He's clearly the weak link of the Heat defense and the Pistons have to target him.
Thompson is more like Robinson now in that he has good size on defense and is a smart defender, but lacks the athleticism to stay in front of quicker players.
The Pistons should be putting Klay Thompson in action on every play, forcing the Heat to switch and hopefully ending up with a mismatch. The Heat can afford to be aggressive on the perimeter with great rim protectors behind their guards, but the Pistons should have mismatches against either Thompson or Davion Mitchell.
Both Detroit and Miami are in similar situations tonight as they try to hide the defender the other team is going to target. The good news for the Pistons is that they are better equipped to do it because of the defensive brilliance of Ausar Thompson.
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