The Detroit Pistons dropped their Game 4 contest against the Cleveland Cavaliers, meaning the series will head back to Michigan tied 2-2. Donovan Mitchell scored 39 points in the second half, and based on all the stats, the Cavaliers have a very clear directive for Game 5 - keep Ausar Thompson on Mitchell at all costs.
He was the best defender against Mitchell by far, but the Cavaliers superstar ended up finding different matchups to attack, and he took advantage of them consistently. Detroit was completely unable to keep up with Mitchell in the second half, and it ultimately cost them the game.
Keeping Thompson on Mitchell should be the goal, but that’s a lot easier said than done.
Pistons need to keep Ausar Thompson on Donovan Mitchell
Obviously, there’s only so much the Pistons can do when it comes to keeping Thompson on Mitchell, as if he fights through everything, someone on the Cavs will have space to operate on offense.
But they need to do better than they did in the second half. In the third and fourth quarters alone in Game 4, Mitchell looked like one of the most dominant players on the planet.
In the second half, he put up 39 points, two rebounds, and one steal while shooting 12-of-18 from the floor and 3-of-7 from behind the three-point line. Detroit just couldn’t stop him.
However, looking at the game in its entirety, when Thompson was guarding Mitchell (3:14 of game time, the most of any player), Mitchell only had four points, shooting 1-of-4 from the field.
The problem was that Mitchell found a ton of different ways to get Thompson off of him. He ran in transition, he got screens that switched another defender off of him, and he moved off the ball, capitalizing on the Pistons’ rotating defense.
For the most part, Mitchell absolutely tormented any Pistons defender whose name isn’t Ausar Thompson.Â
He shot 3-of-4 against Cade Cunningham. He shot 2-of-3 against Daniss Jenkins. He shot 3-of-4 against Tobias Harris. He shot 2-of-3 against Duncan Robinson. He shot 3-of-4 against Paul Reed.
It was an absolute clinic.
Detroit needs to do everything it possibly can to make sure that Thompson sticks to Mitchell like glue for the remainder of the series.
It may not be easy, but it’s necessary.
Because if Mitchell has another performance like the one he churned out on Monday night, then the Pistons could be in a brutal spot. They cannot let that happen.
Transition chances and switches are going to happen. That much is inevitable. But Thompson needs to do everything in his power to stay on Mitchell.
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