Hart

Why the f is Livers in the game?  He's garbage on defense.  

It's like the Raptors don't want to be the ones to break the streak.  Playing extremely hard not to lose this  

The Raptors have turned it up.  Not going to coast to a win.  

Ivey just disappears at times on offense.  Playing solid on defense though and like Cade, he has zero turnovers.  If those two can keep the turnovers down these last 7 minutes, I think we win this game.  

Lucky to be up four after three.  Cade cannot pick up anymore cheap fouls.  Give them a layup if necessary  

It's like our players have no awareness of how many fouls they have.  You can't pick up cheap fouls like that.  

Danger time.  Wiseman and Livers both in the game.  

The Pistons have 8 turnovers and 3 of them are from Killian.  That's not bad by our standards.  And yet, the Raptors only have 4.  Even when we have a  decent game with turnovers, we still have double the opposing team.  

4 hours ago, casimir said:

He still seems to want to ramp up too much at high speed too often.  I think he's been better at dialing that in lately, but that's only been on the offense.  He's still unable to use that speed to his advantage on the defensive side.  To his credit, he was the sole offensive rebounder in the paint a few times late in the game and did his best to keep the ball in possession.

Ivey would probably be a good football player.  He's a great athlete by any standards but I think his agility and lateral quickness are lacking and limit his defensive ability as a basketball player.  He's explosive but not that quick in small spaces.  I used to think it was an effort issue on defense but now I think it's more than that.  He's been giving more effort lately but still gets beat off the dribble too much.  His athleticism allows him to make some defensive plays that other guys can't but as far as being consistently good at defense on most possessions, he still struggles.  

9 hours ago, Deleterious said:

I agree.

 

Especially with Thompson.  I think he has more to gain from the G League than Sasser.  

Sasser is 23 already.  I'd actually like to see him get more minutes for the Pistons.  

6 minutes ago, buddha said:

ausar's offense is so bad he's borderline unplayable at times.  its going to take a creative offensive coach - or a coach paying attention - to put him in positions to succeed on that end of the floor.

i dont think monty is that coach.

There is a very wide variance in his outcome when he reaches his prime.  I am betting he gets there.  Just needs to be competent enough where he is not such a minus on offense.  It’s going to be painful to wait.  Especially if it ends up that he his best years are with another team.  

3 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

As bad as the Pistons shoot, if they  just take care of the ball they could give themselves a chance...... Lost by 6, with 6 more TO than the Celtics

Goes back to not having a point guard.  Cade and Ivey are above average ball handlers by off guard standards but below average by point guard standards.  Leads to sloppy turnovers and bad decision making with passes.  Finding a point guard should be the number one priority.  Morris will help a lot if he ever comes back.

Cade goes on these tangents where you think he is becoming a decent three point shooter but just can’t seem to get that percentage up over 35 percent consistently.  Maybe this latest hot streak is the beginning of something sustainable.  

2 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Cade has to do something about the handle. Just too too sloppy with the ball.

It’s amazing he can go on the tears he does with his handle.  He is not a point guard.  He’s improving as a scorer but that handle holds him back more than you would like in crunch time.  

1 minute ago, buddha said:

ivey giveth, ivey taketh away.

Stupid foul.  He couldn’t resist.  

Cade needed to stand in and take the charge when Ivey drew his 5th foul.  Instead he backed off.  Ball game.

Just now, buddha said:

why is ausar not on the floor?

Monty is terrible,

Pistons got lucky.  Terrible coaching by Monty.  No reason to have Livers in there. 

13 hours ago, Deleterious said:

Leadership.

 

I have grown skeptical of his overall talent/upside but you got to love everything else about him.  Hopefully he sticks around and doesn't bail on the franchise.  

1 minute ago, RandyMarsh said:

Bogey and Burks need to shoot 40%+ from 3 to offset what little else they do, today they were only 5-15. Also is it possible to have both Cade and Ivey play a good game at the same time? Ivey missed so many easy looks along with some free throws. 

Burks has unfortunately taken a pretty big step back this year.  I don't think it's age just finally catching up to him either.  He is just way off his career shooting percentages.  And he doesn't bring anything on defense to offset that.  

1 minute ago, gehringer_2 said:

still sad though. The players will carry the stigma but it's the management that put them into the losing situation. It's the equivalent having to go to work in an office in a sick building or waiting tables in a rat infested restaurant. The money may be a lot better but the working conditions being provided by your employer still suck.

Yeah.  The Cavs were tanking when they carried the streak.  The Pistons were not.  The players have played hard but just aren't good enough.  And the coaching did them no favors.  I put this fully on Gores, Weaver, and Monty.  

1 minute ago, Deleterious said:

 

It was beautiful.  We will break this streak before too long if he can play like that down the stretch.  It was pretty much a no show by everybody else on the court tonight the last 5 minutes.  

I am not sure if it was more Cade or Burk's fault but that three by Finney-Smith with 38 seconds to go was killer.  Burk's got beat off the dribble and Cade left his man in the corner thinking he might need to help but the big guys were there to help.  Hard to fault Cade since he was the hero tonight but I think the right play there would have been to stay on the shooter in the corner.  

That was off Cade.  

2 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

If Cade doesn't score it or set it up, this team has very little chance to score in the 4th quarter.  

One of his best games of the year.  And of course it comes on a night when nobody else can make a shot in the 4th quarter.  Johnson, Finney-Smith, and Sharpe all made plays down the stretch for the Nets and nobody in our supporting cast did.  I agree with you for the most part.  Bogey can make shots but didn't tonight when it mattered.