Betrayer

That THJ play was scary. Luckily the CT scan came back negative. Not sure about a concussion though. Either way, I'm sure he's going to miss some time. Up 9 with about 1:40 to go and they nearly threw this one away. Ended the 4th with turnovers by Beasley, Ivey, and Cade and then started the OT with 4 more bad possessions. They did everything they could to give it away on the offensive end, but credit to the defense for keeping them in the game. Heck of an out of bounds play call from JB and some great execution from Beasley to set that screen and Duren to catch the lob. Nice pass by Cade as well. Think Monty would've dialed up that play?

Celtics are on the list twice at 4 and 17. Edit: Looks like 17 should've been the Nets.

Despite finding dozens of ways to shoot themselves in the foot, the Pistons were within inches of winning this one (again) against a solid team. We can point to any number of mistakes down the stretch, but on a larger scale the three point shooting, offensive rebounds, and turnovers really did them in over the course of the game. Even just replacing Holland's minutes with Ausar probably would've won us this game despite all the mistakes.

Defensive effort across the board has been better this year. Even poor defenders like Beasley and THJ are at least giving effort on most plays. Pistons have the 14th ranked defense in the league. If you would have told someone that before the season started, they'd have said you were crazy, especially after the Pistons brought in mostly shooters and weak defenders to shore up the offensive spacing. Coaching matters. JB isn't elite, but his teams play defense, his rotations usually make sense, he works the refs, uses his challenges, and I've seen some nice in-game adjustments here and there. Night and day from Monty "The Terrorist" Williams.

But wait, I thought consensus on here was that Donovan Mitchell wasn't a good player? 🤣

The good news is this is a different team than last year. Outside of the Knicks game, they've been in them all, even the ones against very good teams like Boston and Indy. Definitely makes it more fun to watch (and more painful when they lose close ones). Hopefully this is the loss that puts us in the right draft spot to get a #1-3 lottery ball while Charlotte drops, lol.

There was also some nice tripping by Charlotte to take out one of our defenders and leave us scrambling.

No. Not again please.

Wow. Gutsy play by Holland. Too much time left for Ball to be a hero.

You knew Ball would show up at some point. Figures it had to be the last 2 minutes.

Cade with two triple doubles in a row.

Why is Tobias still the strong side outlet in the corner? He’s been broken this year. Put someone else in that first pass outlet position.

Ivey back in the game.

Knee directly to his shin bone. Hopefully just a bruise.

Just as you say that…

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.