I’ve noticed Cade doing A LOT of complaining lately (granted, many legit complaints). The Pistons overall do a lot of complaining but it is the NBA, which seems to be all about complaining. Ausar did a quick halftime interview where he said that one of his keys to being effective is to not talk to refs. Whether that new personal rule is self-imposed or dictated by JB, it’s a great idea for a young player.
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Cade certainly has a legit gripe but he’s starting to get some respect from the refs.
He’s shooting 1.7 FT’s a game more than his previous career high. It was a joke how many times he got sent to the floor without a call a couple of years ago. He’s still only shooting the 13th most per game (tied with Lauri), which is a little low. Keyonte George probably shouldn’t be getting more attempts than Cade.
As for last night, I’d say one or maybe two of the fouls against him were iffy. And two were things that he shouldn’t have done with the fouls racking up, like trying to poke the ball out from behind.
And for the Pistons as a whole, they are as physical as any team out there and probably flop the least so that’s going to get you whistled a lot on one end and maybe a little less on the other.
Looking at this year’s newcomers: Duncan, Javonte and Caris have all seen their fouls per minute go up a tick from last year. Whether that’s because they’re playing more physically or just getting more calls going against them is unclear.
That’s interesting. I feel like Duncan plays pretty good positional D most of the time but there is always a call or two where he’s like “what am I supposed to do?” and I largely agree with him on those. As for the others, I think it’s a product of the physicality. They rotate, close out and challenge everything with as much spark as any other team in the league. So much fun to watch. It’s striking to watch them play teams that don’t play with that level of energy.
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Helps to have depth so they can expend energy into playing defense.
I’m not sure if James Harden has so much as jogged, much less run, while on court so far this season.
I wasn’t a fan in his prime. This late stage version is an abhorrent viewing experience.
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Pistons up 75-58 at the half keeping some distance but, feels like the refs have it out for them tonight
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It’s late in the 4th and the Kings have shot 15 more FT’s than the Pistons. We’re up 9 with about 90 seconds to go.
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It’s another game where we’ve gotten a little sloppy instead of running away with it. The FT disparity is part of it but we’ve also turned the ball over 11 times in the 2nd half. Cade has 9 TOs himself.
Yes, very ugly 2nd half but it was a back-to-back nothing game in December so I’m not completely surprised. Ausar not following his own advice (don’t talk to the refs) was amusing. He just can’t help himself but if I got hit in the face on a dunk attempt with no call then I’d probably say something too.
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Yeah, the guy basically palmed Ausar’s face with his left hand while contesting the shot with his right.
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Favorite NBA play is guy gets blatantly fouled with no call, guy complains, gets a T
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Christmas Day collapse by Cleveland. Knicks win in a thriller.
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Our lead on them was 2 games right before the road trip, Cleveland W would’ve made it 4 too
Things aren’t great with the Lakers right now.
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It’s the defense. I just don’t understand their current roster construction. It always felt like they would be in this weird in-between stage while shifting from LeBron’s team to Luka’s team and it might take a couple years to retool. 25th in defensive rating won’t cut it if they want to compete with the other top 5 teams in the west. Especially if their offense isn’t going to be out of this world amazing.
OKC, SA, MIN, and HOU are all young teams with a lot of depth that really defend and have top 10 offenses. Denver is sorta an outlier with the 17th best defense, but they have the best offense in the league spearheaded by the best player in the league. I think their defense will be pretty good again once Gordon and Braun are back.
Idk how the Lakers can break into that group in the short-term without trading one of LeBron or Reaves to reset the roster to get more depth and defense.
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The Lakers can wait until after playing the Pistons next week before fixing their issues.
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Think they might have to seriously consider trading Reaves. He’s a great offensive player but a liability on defense as is Luka. Reaves is going to be a free agent after the season and is going to get a monster contract.
Williams and Alvarado get involved
That’s gonna be a suspension
I’d guess 1 game for Williams and 2-3 for Alvarado.