Under the Hood – it’s time to see what’s really going on inside this Pistons team.
I was looking for specific plays this morning to showcase the two 30-pieces that Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren dropped on the Brooklyn Nets last night, but these guys did too many cool things to not highlight their entire performance, so you’ll get two highlight reels in this Under the Hood.
Cade led the way with 34 points, one rebound, 10 assists (4 TOs), and one steal in 33 minutes. He was hitting off-the-dribble threes, stepback middies, post hooks, and-one transition layups, and even displayed some athleticism at the rim that we haven’t seen in a while. He made 13 of his 18 attempts and went 6-for-6 from the line for an incredibly efficient night. When do we start having MVP conversations?
Jalen Duren has turned into a nightmare for opposing teams. He finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds, and three steals in 30 minutes while shooting 11-for-14 from the field and 8-for-8 from the line. Not only is he taking more shots, he has doubled his free throw attempts from last year and he’s making them at an incredible 86% nine games into the season. How do you stop a guy that dunks everything but also makes majority of his free throws?
My favorite play from the night is JD contesting a shot at the rim, grabbing the rebound to bring it up the court, and drops it off to Cade because he knows he’s getting it right back for an alley-oop. Oh, yeah – how about that jumper, too?
It’s hard to find things to complain about in a game that Detroit won by 18, though, it felt like a game they should’ve won by 30+.
The Pistons got off to another slow start, but that’s been par for the course so far this season. Detroit was down 19-9 after the first four minutes due to four three-pointers from Noah Clowney. The Nets won the first quarter 29-27, and they had a 55-51 lead with two minutes left in the first half until a 9-0 Detroit run helped the Pistons take a 60-55 halftime lead.
To be honest, I turned the game off around the end of the third quarter when Detroit had a 94-74 lead because I needed my beauty sleep. They stomped the Nets, but it sure would be nice to watch a full stomping take place from the start of the game.
Man, how far we’ve come – what a beautiful thing to be able to complain about.
Alright, fine – Ausar gets a highlight reel as well.
When I was watching last night, I noticed two consecutive plays with Caris LeVert that I really liked. Ausar was directing traffic to get LeVert an easy dunk and they went right back to the same set the next play, but Ausar gets an open mid-range jumper to go the next time.
The coaching staff has done such a good job putting Ausar in positions to succeed. He’s a great connector, his handle and on-ball playmaking has improved, and I think putting him in the dunker’s spot at times allows him to take advantage of his verticality and athleticism.
It’s pretty impressive how much growth we’ve seen out of these young guys to start the season.
