Cade Cunningham has struggled in the second round against a swarming Cleveland defense, but the Pistons can make his life easier by adjusting their offensive schemes. Cade has frequently been crowded in pick-and-rolls, leading to costly turnovers and bad offense. If the Pistons can make some key adjustments to give him more options, Cade could be back on his way to dominating soon.
The Pistons need to give Cade simpler reads
Like the Magic in the series prior, the Cavaliers are also doing everything they can to eliminate the pick-and-roll offense. Their defense has emphasized taking away Jalen Duren’s rolls by sending extra bodies. And it’s led to major problems for Cunningham, who is averaging 5.5 turnovers per game and shooting just 40% for the series.
But the Pistons don’t have many other options to initiate the offense, so they need to find creative ways to make Cade more effective. The simplest one would be to get more shooting on the floor and have those shooters flash into open spots.Â
When Cade gets blitzed in pick-and-rolls, his only available pass is often Duren. That predictability makes the Pistons easy to defend and allows Cleveland’s active defenders to target Duren. If the Pistons instead had their shooters and wings running into open spots as well, they could give Cade more passing lanes.
Another option is to let Cade attack in isolation more often. The Cavaliers have found success for their own star guards in this action. Cade has the size and skills to exploit mismatches, so he may be better served attacking selfishly in those opportunities.
Detroit’s offense desperately needs to bounce back
The Pistons have looked horrendous on offense at times in this series, none more glaring than the third quarter of Game 4. The Cavaliers began the quarter with 22 unanswered points thanks to 8 misses and 5 turnovers from the Pistons in that span. Clearly, Detroit’s same old predictable offense isn’t producing results against the Cavaliers and they need to change some things up.
Even though Cleveland has some weak defenders in the backcourt, they also have immensely talented ones in the frontcourt. Their double bigs of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen in particular has caused issues for the Pistons. But Detroit can do a better job of attacking them with more diverse sets and actions too.
The Pistons need a new jolt to their offense and it all starts with the head of the snake, Cade Cunningham. If Detroit can find ways to get him comfortable again, they’ll be right back in the series and find new life. But if they continue to run out the same old actions, they could be in deep trouble very quickly.
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