Betrayer

Pistons treating this game like they can just win it later. That’s a recipe for a loss.

Bad call. Contact by Cade was clearly before the shot.

Ivey really struggling to finish tonight.

Yep that’s what I was worried about, especially with his history of missing multiple weeks for each ankle injury and coming back looking like he’s afraid to test it again.

This game really shouldn’t be tied right now. Feels like the Pistons have made a lot of dumb mistakes and took bad shots on the offensive end, throwing away possessions.

Looks like he’s alright. Hopefully it doesn’t swell and cost him any games. Cade just getting to the hoop at will early on.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Duren goes down with an ankle injury right when the pistons look like they might be improving.

Hmm, looks like Fanduel Sports Network carries it and offers a 7 day trial. I'll give that a go.

What does this mean?

League Pass. They consider Raleigh local to Charlotte apparently so I can't watch any games involving the Hornets - home or away - until 3 days after the game.

Ugh, can't watch this one until the 9th because I live 3 hours from Charlotte. Stupid blackout rules.

Well, that was fun! I do love watching the Lakers lose, especially to us. Rough shooting from 3, Cade was off, and yet they still found a way to win this game. Solid defense, good effort from the bigs, and we even saw Cade hold his own guarding Lebron for a long stretch. Holland’s probably reworking his shot with Vinson, but other than that he played really well. Even took AD off the dribble for a nice finish. Ivey was clutch in the 4th. Love how JB has him in motion against a bent defense with Cade making plays and feeding him on the move After near wins against Indy and Boston, this was a big one to hold the lead and close it out.

Beat the teams you should beat. Last year's team loses this game on the road by double digits. It wasn't a pretty game, especially in the first half, but they got the job done. Harris had a nice game and Duren gave good effort on defense (in the 2nd half). Stop me if you've heard this before but turnovers are a real problem.

There's a lot of talk about Duren in Piston's media right now. The Center position is a real problem, as crazy as that sounds with how much Weaver tried to invest in it. Obviously, it doesn't help that the perimeter defense is terrible so we're in rotation as soon as the possession starts. Knicks looked like grown men being chased around by toddlers in the playground the way they had us scrambling and bumbling around like idiots. But, as you said, that doesn't excuse Duren's seeming lack of interest and inability to be in the right spot even when he is engaged. People are asking if Stew should start. I get it, the defense is light years better with him on the court. Unfortunately his offense is non-existent and he's undersized. The answer is that there is no answer on this roster - both guys would be great backups and we don't have a starting Center on this roster despite Weaver's love for Centers.

That was some deplorable defense.

I can't agree with that (just yet). Losing for draft position has done us no good. Nobody wants to play here and the basketball gods have rewarded us by dropping us to #5. If we're in that position after game 50, sure, you play all the young players and let the chips fall where they may. But you don't set out to be a loser 5 games into the season. That infects your players and your franchise The goal for this year should be to build an identity and make steps towards turning the ship in the right direction. It's time to try to build something, even something small. Maybe then the basketball gods will grant us some lottery luck and we won't completely ruin these young players and further destroy the reputation of this franchise.

You're unhappy if they win 30 (a 16 win improvement that would mean the youngsters have improved) and you're unhappy if they win 14. You can talk about Korver shooting 42% as a good example of a specialist, but not even admit that THJ has been playing well so far at 53%. There's really not much point in a discussion with someone who's unhappy on both sides of the fence and can't see the light in anything positive at all. I'm as cynical as the next guy, but I can still find enjoyment in my team showing improvement or players playing better than expected. If you were hoping for them to leap from 14 wins to a 50 win playoff team, I'm not sure what to tell you.

Sure, every team wants 2-way players, but guys have made entire careers out of being specialists. That's literally what a role player is. They play a role. Were you expecting him to be an All-Star?

Yeah, there's no team in the NBA that would want a guy who's shooting 53% from three and 93% from the line with just .6 turnovers and a .659 eFG% 🙄 But let's not let the facts get in the way of hyperbole and negativity. He's streaky, so it'll probably fall off soon, but for now he's playing the role they brought him in for very well.

We'll see Sasser soon enough, when Cade or Ivey get dinged up for a game here or there. But, it won't be pretty. Problem is he doesn't have a position in the NBA. He's not a PG, but he's also not a catch and shoot player because he needs to dribble into all his threes. On the other side, he can't defend due to his size and inability to switch onto anyone but the smallest guards. I'd love to see this team acquire a actual veteran backup PG. Fontecchio is having a rough start, but he also just came off of foot surgery in the offseason, so I'd give it some time. Harris didn't shoot well from outside but had a relatively strong game in Philly game. He's also been putting up some really good rebound numbers over the past few. I can't imagine he's fallen off a cliff from his solid career numbers, so I'm sure he'll be fine once he settles into his role.

Last year's team loses this game. I lost count of how many we lost against teams without their best player(s) that we "should" have won last year. Stew really was the biggest difference maker in this game on the defensive end. There was a lot of buzz about how the defense is 20 pts better when he's on the court prior to this game and I'm sure that number only improved. The offense has been an issue because he's not good on the roll (stone hands), but JB mentioned before the game that it was his fault and he needs to find a way to get Stew more 3's. JB Also mentioned after the game that if Stew keeps this up, he's going to have to adjust the big man rotation to give him more minutes. I'm happy to hear that...but what does that say about Duren? With all of Weaver's investment in Centers, could it be that we still don't actually have a true starter on the roster? It's nice to see the Ivey that I was so excited about when we drafted him. Monty was a basketball terrorist. Ivey is even showing some nice defensive moments here and there. There was a stretch in the 3rd where he was absolutely wearing Maxey's jersey. We've seen him be streaky before, but hopefully his play can be sustained throughout the year. Tobias and THJ carried them offensively in the 4th. Something that was sorely missing last year and it's the reason you get vets around your youngsters. Harris has had a rough start to the season and even this game, but he put in 18pts and 14 rebs last night, which was nice to see. I know everyone's waiting for THJ to go into a slump to say, "I told you so", so I'm just going to give him his flower now because he's playing pretty well to start the season. I doubt we beat the Knicks, but then you have the Nets, Lakers, Hornets, and Hawks coming up. Could win 2 or 3 of those.

Could be a while: https://lastwordonsports.com/basketball/2024/10/24/pistons-why-ausar-thompson-blood-clot-issue-so-complicated/

And he only got that because Ivey was in foul trouble. I think Livers just had surgery again.

In a Monty offense where you stick him the corner, sure. But it’s not that hard to make him the screener, put him in the dunker spot, let him initiate the screen, or get him running off of off-ball screens. Especially now, when you have three other guys out there who can space (4’ish if you run him with Stew).

Competitive game, but in the end Indy is a better team and they showed that in the 4th. Would’ve been nice to pull it out, but if they can play like this all season they’ll definitely win their share of games. would’ve been nice to have Ausar out there. I wonder if and when he’ll get to play.