4/27/26 8:00PM RD1 GM4 Pistons (1-2) @ Magic (2-1)

[Hongbit]

The Magic FO deserves credit.  

They made a trade that was universally panned.  4 unprotected firsts for Desmond Bane.   They got exactly what they wanted and needed from him.  He wasn’t the 2nd option down the stretch.  He was the guy.  Making huge shots and also providing a little attitude that they needed in this series.  

Their roster only played 19 games together and we are seeing first had what they are capable of at full strength.  

One GM rolled the dice with a huge move and the other did nothing for fear of “upsetting the culture of the room”.    The results are showing.

Edited 8 hours ago by Hongbit

[Hongbit]

I also have to give a shout out to @Deleterious and @Betrayer.  

For the last year, they have both  repeatedly talked about this exact scenario of the Duren offensive model not working in the playoffs.   Here we are and it’s come to fruition almost exactly as they predicted.  Amazing that Trajan and any of 35 VP’s that are employed by the club couldn’t figure out.  

[Deleterious]

I also said Detroit would sweep.  So, ya know.

[casimir]

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

I also said Detroit would sweep.  So, ya know.

Well, if they could sweep the end of this series, I think we could look past your prediction.

[Sports_Freak]

2 hours ago, Hongbit said:

The Magic FO deserves credit.  

They made a trade that was universally panned.  4 unprotected firsts for Desmond Bane.   They got exactly what they wanted and needed from him.  He wasn’t the 2nd option down the stretch.  He was the guy.  Making huge shots and also providing a little attitude that they needed in this series.  

Their roster only played 19 games together and we are seeing first had what they are capable of at full strength.  

One GM rolled the dice with a huge move and the other did nothing for fear of “upsetting the culture of the room”.    The results are showing.

Fans who are screaming about the Pistons not making a move makes them feel better but I also read an article about teams making a big trade deadline move hadn't won them a championship in 8 years. Could we have been the next team? We'll never know. I see their point though, at least we could have tried. The heck with the future, I wanna win now 

[Deleterious]

Maybe its a blessing Langdon didn't make a trade.  His big free agent acquisition played 25 minutes and scored 2 points last night.  

[Deleterious]

Pistons had 15 3PTA's last night where there was no defender within 6 feet of the shooter.  They made 3 of them.

Cade 1-5

Harris 0-3

Robinson 1-3

Green 0-2

Stewart 1-1

Jenkins 0-1

With no defender within 4-6 feet they shot 12 3PTA's and made 3.

Cade 2-5

Harris 0-1

Robinson 0-3

Jenkins 0-2

Green 1-1

So combined, with no defender within 4 feet or more on 3PTA's they shot 6-27 or 22%.  

[RedTeamGo!]

12 hours ago, buddha said:

 

trajan is either smart enough to know this team was overrated

Might be this - 

https://www.espn.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS

Pistons had the easiest schedule in the NBA 

[buddha]

if they lose in 5, the cya stories will start.  about how trajan knew they werent ready yet and that's why he didnt go all in.  youre already starting to see it.  he "wanted to see how they would react to the pressure" or some bs like that.

the team needes shooting and you traded for robinson and heurter.  both of whom stink.  i get that beasley screwed you over, but you had all year to watch the team without him and yoy chose to do nothing about it.

the team needed other ball handlers besides cade and you stuck with danniss jenkins.  with predictable results.

there were decent role players available and they chose to do nothing.  you could have made a play for cj mccollum and overpaid, perhaps it was wise not to do so?

the easiest thing to do was to do nothing.  and that's what he did.

 

[Deleterious]

It won't shock anyone, but Detroit has the worst offensive rating in the playoffs at 100.3.  For some context, Brooklyn was the worst in the regular season at 108.2.  Detroit was 117.2

[Deleterious]

I wonder if a team has ever won a series while shooting below 40% from the field.  Orlando is currently shooting 38.7% from the field for the series.

Two teams, the Lakers and Spurs, are shooting higher than that from three.  

[Shinzaki]

Cade has set a playoff record for TO's in a three game stretch

[Betrayer]

3 hours ago, Hongbit said:

I also have to give a shout out to @Deleterious and @Betrayer.  

For the last year, they have both  repeatedly talked about this exact scenario of the Duren offensive model not working in the playoffs.   Here we are and it’s come to fruition almost exactly as they predicted.  Amazing that Trajan and any of 35 VP’s that are employed by the club couldn’t figure out.  

I've never been so unhappy to be right about something.

Before Game 1 I also said Orlando was going to be a really tough challenge for this team - probably our second worst matchup in the East besides Cleveland. I'm not happy about that prediction coming true either 😞

[Betrayer]

Rumor was that Weaver wanted to take JD at pick #5 and he got overruled so he traded up to get him. I realize JD's value just dropped across the league, but maybe a sign and trade involving Trey Murphy could be worked out with our former GM.

Edited 4 hours ago by Betrayer

[gehringer_2]

11 minutes ago, Betrayer said:

Rumor was that Weaver wanted to take JD at pick #5 and he got overruled so he traded up to get him. I realize JD's value just dropped across the league, but maybe a sign and trade involving Trey Murphy could be worked out with our former GM.

It would be nice to have 3pt shooting center, but that discussion has been had before and there aren't that many out there. Maybe if you had a team that was less shooting handicapped across the board, teams would not be able to so easily take away what Duren could be doing. When you put together a team the pieces have to complement  each other - the pistons' shooting so far is deficient enough that it's skewing everything else and a part of that right now is Cade isn't playing like he's at 100%

Then there's the turnovers......

Edited 4 hours ago by gehringer_2

[Hongbit]

1 hour ago, Sports_Freak said:

Fans who are screaming about the Pistons not making a move makes them feel better but I also read an article about teams making a big trade deadline move hadn't won them a championship in 8 years. Could we have been the next team? We'll never know. I see their point though, at least we could have tried. The heck with the future, I wanna win now 

You don’t need to read an article to see how much Ayo Dosunmu could’ve helped this team.  Turn on the Wolves/Nuggets series.   They got him for a bunch of seconds and roster fodder.  He was easily available to the Pistons had they wanted.

[Hongbit]

JB’s career playoff record as a higher seed is now 6-10. 

[DTroppens]

4 hours ago, Hongbit said:

I also have to give a shout out to @Deleterious and @Betrayer.  

For the last year, they have both  repeatedly talked about this exact scenario of the Duren offensive model not working in the playoffs.   Here we are and it’s come to fruition almost exactly as they predicted.  Amazing that Trajan and any of 35 VP’s that are employed by the club couldn’t figure out.  

The only way it could've worked at a reasonable level is if the team actually had an outside threat to go with Duren's presence inside. But the Pistons refused to make any sort of legit move to do that in the offseason. And when Beasley had his issues and it was apparent he wasn't going to be around, I guess they thought Duncan Robinson would be all the team needed. Hmmmm.... 

I really thought even if it meant rocking the squad a bit, but they didn't. At that time I just figured I'd enjoy the rest of the regular season and hope I was worrying about nothing. But, gosh, even through the successful regular season, we saw games that just proved how this was going to be a mighty tough task once the playoffs began. 

[DTroppens]

1 hour ago, Shinzaki said:

Cade has set a playoff record for TO's in a three game stretch

He's never really gotten the turnover bug out of his game, ever. And it's not only showing in this playoff series, but his turnover average in the postseason last year also looked like an assists-per-a-game average during the postseason against the Knicks last year as well.

He's averaging 5 to 6 turnovers for his NBA playoff career right now. The team around him doesn't help him offensively, but a lot of that is on him. 

[Adullin]

the problem is that we are playing worse then the magic. We held them to 33% shooting.. We simply missing wide open shots and layups. as well asn free throws I mean a college team can learn to hit free throws why cant a team of professionals?

[Deleterious]

Outside of Cade and Ausar, everyone should be on the trading block this summer.

[Deleterious]

Cade per/100 possessions is turning it over 19.9% of the time. Of the guys playing regular minutes, he isn't even the worst. 

Duren 24.1%

Stewart 22.3%

Huerter 22.2%

LeVert 20%

[Betrayer]

Exactly. Cade and Ausar are the building blocks. First team All NBA PG and a First Team All Defensive wing.

While a (real) second All-Star would be nice, you really just need basic 3-and-D players at SG and PF along with a cheap Center. A basic backup ballhandler off the bench who isn't a G-Leaguer would help as well.

That's not asking much and luckily you have a 22 year old first time All-Star you can sign and trade this offseason to help get a significant portion of that accomplished.