Lost parts of Jalen Duren's game that he needs to find quickly

The Detroit Pistons have not gotten much production out of their two main centers in the playoffs, and most of the focus has been on Jalen Duren. 

Duren is not scoring as easily or with as much regularity as he did in the regular season when he averaged just under 20 points per game. He’s been lucky to get into double digits in most of the playoff games so far and is shooting under 50 percent from the floor after shooting 65 percent on the season. 

The Pistons have tried to force feed Duren in the post, which has not gone well, as he has not handled the pressure in traffic and has coughed up 2.5 turnovers per game in the playoffs and gotten stuffed at the rim more times than I care to recall. 

The Pistons have to find a way to get Duren going, and it will start with him finding the parts of his game that have gone away in the playoffs. 

Grab the damn ball! 

I don’t know how many times I have yelled this at Duren in the playoffs, but it’s been a lot, as his rebounding has been poor, highlighted by his four rebound performance in the loss in game three. 

It’s not just the bigs that are out-rebounding Duren, as JB Bickerstaff had to give him an earful after Donovan Mitchell got a rebound over him as Duren stood flat-footed, which has happened a lot. 

He just doesn’t seem to be as aggressive tracking the ball for some reason, and when he has gotten there, his hands have been unreliable, which is not something we saw at all in the regular season when he was hoovering up everything around him. 

I honestly don’t care if they run another play for Duren in these playoffs, but if he doesn’t rebound, they won’t win, it’s that simple. He needs to get back to what he does well, which is rebound the ball, starting with sealing his man and not getting caught standing there watching the play. 

If I were JB Bickerstaff, I’d challenge Duren to grab 15-20 boards tonight and not care if he gets a shot otherwise. 

It’s time to end the drives and isolation plays unless...

Duren made a big leap in his face up game this season, as he was much better driving to the rim and beating his man on isolations, but that part of his game has abandoned him in the playoffs. 

Duren is 2-of-12 on drives in these playoffs and 0-of-8 on isolation plays. Both the Magic and Cavs have had the same plan, which is just to stay in front of him and force Duren into contact. He’s not getting some of the calls he was getting in the regular season, so Duren either has to abandon this part of his game, or the Pistons have to find better ways to get him the ball while he’s moving. 

He’s struggling with Allen and Mobley’s length, but he can overpower him if he has a step, which he hasn’t for this series so far. I wouldn’t mind seeing Duren taking some dribble handoffs so that he can get the ball in motion and just keep going to the rim. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Duren pull up for 10-12 footers occasionally if they are going to completely sag of and take away his drives. 

Duren did these things well in the regular season but needs to find them in the playoffs, as the Pistons desperately need his scoring, but at the very least, he must be aggressive on the boards and close out possessions. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow