Betrayer

Regardless of the outcome, this was a fun, tight game and Cade put on a show. Biggest takeaway from the game: -3 is more than 2. You aren't winning when the other team is lighting you up from 3 (they shot 47%) and you're responding with 2s. That's just the reality of today's NBA. You have to crush them in every other aspect of the game to overcome it. Smaller takeaways: -You got a taste of what teams will do to Robinson in the playoffs. The Celtics ran multiple screens to get him on Brown and he cashed in over and over. Beasley and THJ were atrocious defenders as well so it's nothing new, but at some point we've got to find some 2-way players. -Would like to have more minutes from Stew over Duren in the second half. The Celtics are a perimeter team and you needed Stew's defense out there. They were also taking away the lob pass, so Duren's offensive impact was neutered. He resorted to forcing it too much and turned it over 3 times which is unacceptable for a Center. -I understand a coach's desire to reward guys who play hard, but this 11-12 man rotation ain't it. I want Jenkins running backup PG, but I'm not sure I like that small bench lineup either with Jenkins, Ivey, Lavert, Holland, and Stew. You have to figure out how to stagger it better. Maybe bring Stew in earlier at the 4, so you can sub Harris back in with the bench lineup when Duren sits. We've got to start doing that anyway because Stew needs more than 20 mpg. That said, you can't complain about tying a franchise record 13 wins. 3 more tough matchups coming up, including a cup game and a back-to-back, so let's see how they respond.

This is like someone moving into an apartment, smearing dung all over the walls, and then saying, "I'm frustrated with how dirty this apartment is." Look in the mirror, bro, you're the biggest part of the problem.

I can think of one GM who would want him, and he happens to also have Trey Murphy III on his team.

I think most people expect that Harris, Ivey, and Holland would be the floor for a "Star" trade. Add in a first or two depending upon which star we're talking about and you have the framework for a deal. They get salary relief (Harris), 2 young prospects (Ivey and Holland), and couple picks. Makes sense. But this package is too much even for JJJ, so I certainly wouldn't pay that for Markannen.

I'm confused by the "Sheesh" comment. These numbers are actually pretty unremarkeable. To a couch potato maybe that seems crazy, but a 4.43 mph pace for 30 minutes a few times a week is a pretty weak training schedule for even the average runner, let alone these young athletes. A 10 minute mile is fairly pedestrian and that's 6mph. And the total distance of 34 miles shared across 16-20 players in a game is just about the laziest relay race ever. These stats say nothing. It's not the average speed or distance that's injuring these players, it's the burst movements that put huge strain on their muscles, tendons, and ligaments. That and rolling their ankles...if you're on the Pistons.

Sure, based upon how erratic his play has been, but I doubt they stop giving time to their 20 year old second year prospect that was Trajan's only lottery pick.

Great game and a good test, especially with us on a back to back and travelling. Ausar was looking a little lost in the first half in his first game back, but was at all-defensive levels in the second half. The play where he just took the ball from Johnson was simply awesome. JB said after the game that Ausar only came off the bench because of a minutes restriction and that, "he's a starter for us." Jenkins is a real player. He should be the backup PG even when Ivey, LaVert, and Sasser are back. Tremendous find. Looks like we're running 10 deep if everyone is healthy and you've got about 13 guys that could legitimately play. Consolidation move incoming or does Trajan choose not to mess with the chemistry? Duren has been a beast offensively. His defense is still neutral at best, but at least he tries on that end now. Great rebounding, great hands, and the free throw improvement is huge when you're talking about keeping your guys on the floor in crunch time. Every time he went to the line to seal the game I thought about the fact that Drummond would have been sitting on the bench during a sequence like that.

Really feels like this team is just extra cautious with injuries. Dudes who have a minor ankle tweak and play the rest of the game without looking like it bothered them at all are out for weeks. You'd think Tobias broke his leg with this injury that was so subtle I'm not even sure I saw it happen, yet he's not even close enough to be listed as "questionable" yet.

Fixed that for you 🙂

This team is crazy and I love it. What a win!

As I said when we heard the news, "re-evaluated in 4 weeks" didn't mean "return in 4 weeks". We won't see Ivey at full strength until January. If he's just now getting on the court for solo work, he won't be cleared for full 5-on-5 for another couple of weeks at least, then there's the "re-conditioning" period they like to do for a couple weeks, and then they'll start giving him very limited game minutes near the end of December.

Don't forget all the picks they still have, including 2 that are lottery picks as of right now.

This was such a fun game to watch. I had zero expectations that they would win this, but as others have said this was a culture, identity, and coaching win. That and Trajan filling out the roster - even down to the third string - with guys who are NBA players. Love seeing this. As far as Jenkins goes, I've been saying this since last year: He should be the 3rd string PG, not Sasser. Better distributor, bigger/better defender, more versatile. Sasser is a better shooter, but he can seemingly only do it off of 15 dribbles and a step back. That said, I'm not sure we should be comparing Jenkins to Schroeder. I'll first point out that Schroeder was actually pretty bad for us last year outside of a few playoffs games, yet people have this weird first year Fontecchio/Bagley thing going on where they're overrating what he was. Terribly inefficient and a bad/too-small defender against most NBA players. Even so, they didn't sign Jenkins to a 2-way contract thinking he was Schroeder's replacement. That was always meant to be a combination of Ivey and Levert. Jenkins is just a bonus find that Trajan identified off the scrap-heap. Who knows what Ivey will do in January or whenever he returns, but over the last few games Levert has shown why he could be better for this team than Schroeder as he's been more efficient on offense and better on defense due to his length and versatility.

I don't mind the jerseys even though I despise the teal, but I really don't like the center court transparency and I especially hate the logo they used for the broadcast because it just looks like the Orlando Magic logo. And why is the logo on the court transparent but the version of it on the broadcast is blue? And why is only the horse's eye red? It doesn't match the logo on the broadcast or on the shorts. Why are we using so many discordant colors: black, red, teal, and yellow is an awful combination of colors that you would only find together in a child's playroom. Ok, old man rant over.

You shouldn't be allowed to rest 2 starters for the same game.