Pistons (7-9) vs Hornets (5-9) recap and reaction

Pistons vs Hornets

These are the types of games I love watching. Don't get me wrong watching a clash between the league's best is always fun, but the rebuilding teams looking to try and win games with young head coaches always seem to deliver. The Pistons this year are off to a good start, they're 6th in the East and JB Bickerstaff has the Pistons defense looking really good so far this year. Detroit is 9th in opponents points per game and are off to a 7-9 start on the season. Cade Cunningham is healthy, Jaden Ivey has taken some steps forward improving his game after Monty Williams was eager to not play him, and Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway, and Malik Beasley have bought into the veteran role of leading the young guys on the team. The Hornets are off to a decent start at 5-9 they're had a tough schedule so far this season and have had a couple games unfavorable go against them. Brandon Miller has missed a couple games in the beginning and the Hornets have been without Mark Williams and backup Nick Richards at the center position for a majority of the season. Nonetheless, LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller are off to good starts to the season. Miller hasn't quite found his shot so far this season, but being injured does not help with that. Let's dive into the action. 

Recap 

The Hornets would be without Miles Bridges in this one. he is dealing with knee soreness and would be held out of the game in this one. The Hornets had a lineup of LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Josh Green, Moussa Diabate, and Grant Williams. The Pistons put out a lineup of Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duran, and Tim Hardaway Jr. It was slow start early on for both teams involved. Both haven't been great on offense, but I think part of it is because both coaches want to get their system and style in place and that can take a little bit of time to implement. The Hornets want to race from one end of the floor to the other. LaMelo Ball is an exceptional talent in transition both with his scoring and passing. Putting him in transition as much as possible is a goal of the Hornets. The Hornets also want to get up a ton of threes. They're shooting 37% on 44 attempts as a team, both are top marks amongst the league, but they don't generate offense from anywhere else. They are one of the worse in producing paint points, and they don't get to the foul line a bunch either. The Pistons play a ton through Cade Cunningham which has been healthy this season. He's missed a lot of games to start his career, but he's playing the best basketball in his career so far. A lot of it is due to his improved passing, but I think the shooting of Harris, and Hardaway along with Ivey developing his shot his been a main portion as well, but Cunningham is really finding his teammates well in the post, in pick and roll, and when teams double him. He still needs to cut down on turnovers, but the passing is much improved. The first quarter saw the Hornets slowly pull out to an early lead. They forced some turnovers from the Pistons and the Pistons fouled a ton early on. Ivey and Hardaway picked two early fouls each and the Hornets got in the bonus very early in the game. LaMelo made some great passes and the Hornets played with a lot of energy early on. Cunningham was able to bring the Pistons back into the game with his passing and setting up his teammates for some easy shots. He's averaging almost 9 assists a game this year and has taken steps forward with his passing overall.  His turnovers come from three sources I would say. He's dribbling into traffic, telegraphing passes, and his handle is a little loose at times. Being an apex ball handler is difficult in the NBA and a lot of guys have a bunch of turnovers, but he's a similar size to Luka and he only averages 3.3 turnovers a game. Obviously, Luka is away better passer than Cunningham, but I hope people see the vision. Cleaning up one of those areas will help a lot. The Hornets shooting was able to get them a 33-27 lead after the first quarter. They moved the ball well and LaMelo and Miller got off to good starts in the quarter too. LaMelo picked up a quick third foul in the 2nd quarter and had to sit on the bench for a majority of the second quarter, Brandon Miller and Tre Mann took control of the offense and Diabate grabbed a ton of offensive rebounds to get the Hornets some extra possessions. The Piston's offense really drops when Cunningham goes to the bench. Their rating with him on the floor is 111 points per possession and him on the bench is below 103, not good. However, the Pistons do have a lot more shooting this year and it has really helped them a lot so far. Beasley and Hardaway are both shooting 40% from the three and the Pistons run a lot of staggers, pin downs, and zoom actions for them when Cunningham isn't in the game. Ball reentered the game in the 2nd quarter and both he and Miller went to work. The duo really played well off each other and the Hornets are very clever on spacing out the floor for both of them. Williams really likes to ghost screen up top for them and confuse the defense. The Hornets would go into the break leading 63-59. LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller each had 18 points to lead the Hornets and Ball also chipped in 7 assists. Cunningham had 13 points on 5/13 shooting and 0/5 from three. he also had 6 assists and Harris had 12 points. The Hornets shot 12/25 from three in the first half. I like Cunningham taking more threes this season. He taking above 6 a game and I think 7 is a good number for him to cap it at. His percentage on the season is 36% and unless he really takes drastic measures to improve the shot I'm honestly comfortable with him trying to polish his inside game. I think Cunningham also needs to learn how to get fouled.  he takes 20 shots a game, and 6 of them come between 0-5 feet, the 2nd most for any guard in the league, and he's only taking 4 free throws a game. I'm not a 100% sure what the reason for the low free throw numbers are, but I think it could be a weapon for him in the future. The third quarter for the Hornets could not have gone any better. They got out in transition , the defense was really good in pressuring the ball and shooters, and they showed a lot of energy, something that is important for young teams. The Pistons didn't do enough rebounding and got lazy on defense trying to gamble for steals and didn't get back in transition. LaMelo Ball went on a crazy heater in the 3rd quarter. It was capped by him making a ridiculous logo three with the shot clock winding down. He is one of the most entertaining players in the league and he's up there for best point guard in the Eastern Conference. The Hornets took a 93-79 lead into the forth quarter. In the 4th Ball and Miller played really well off each other. The Hornets really space deep in the corners with shooting and put Miller and Ball up top to let them work. Miller spaces out to the 4 point line to give LaMelo the space needed to operate. He and Miller play well off each other using screens and ghost to get each other an advantage. The Pistons however, were able to get themselves back into the game after some sloppy possessions from the Hornets. A Tobias Harris 3 cut the lead to 107-105 and an Ivey layup tied the game at 107 a piece with a minute left. Cunningham was then fouled and made both free throws to give the Pistons a 109-107 lead, but he would leave the game injured for the Pistons. He landed on his back pretty hard after the foul and would be taken to the locker room to get checked out. The Hornets ran a nice play with a ghost screen up top and rolled into a side pick and roll for LaMelo. He made the floater to tie the game at 109. Beasley then had a chance to win it for the Pistons after a floater missed and got the rebound, but missed an open 5 footer. The Hornets also had a chance to win running a screen the screener play for LaMelo, but he missed the floater as time expired. They headed to overtime tied 109 a piece. The first big play in overtime was LaMelo fouling out on the first play. Him reaching is something he needs to be caution of because he picks of a lot of cheap fouls and it costed him in the game. Tre Mann would replace him with 4:59 left in overtime. Detroit the in the first half had played drop coverage on ball screens and but started blitzing the icing them as the game went on however, Brandon Miller had no problem attacking the Pistons in pick and roll. I really think there's an untapped level of play making for himself and for his teammates. He has a good handle for his size and can get his shot off over anyone. He hit a tough three with the shot clock winding down to give Charlotte a 116-112 lead with less then 2 minutes to go. He then made a putback off his miss to push the lead to 118-113 and then hit a tough hesitation three to give the Hornets a 121-115 lead. Grant Williams had a chance to put the game away with two free throws but missed one giving Detroit a chance. With the score being 123-120 the Hornets fouled Ivey with 5 seconds left. Ivey hit the first free throw and missed the second on purpose. It got a really good bounce, but the Pistons couldn't get a good look at the basket and time ran out. The Hornets were able to pull out the 123-121 win in overtime. LaMelo Ball finished with 35 points on 12/27 shooting and added 9 assists and 6 rebounds. Brandon Miller had his career-high with 38 points, 8 of them in overtime, on 15/26 from the field and 8/12 from 3. he also added in 7 rebounds. Moussa Diabate had 16 rebounds for the Hornets. Cunningham finished with 27 points on 9/26 shooting and had 10 assists and 7 rebounds as well. Tobias Harris had 26 points on 10/16 shooting from the field and 6/9 from three. The Pistons dropped to 7-10 while the Hornets improved to 6-9 on the season. 

Reaction 

WOW what a game. Definitely the most fun game I have watched this year. It was really fun seeing the young stars on both teams play well and it was a very entertaining game to watch and breakdown. For the Hornets they have their two stars, Miller and Ball I think are All-NBA caliber, Miller at 6'9 or 6' 10 is an unbelievable player. His shooting numbers to start the season have been a little below expectations, but this dude is for real. He is an absolute problem with his size and shot making ability. LaMelo is a problem as well these two play really well off each other and have the ability to be really good. They still need to fill out the roster with some more shooting and defense, but I think getting Mark Williams back will really help them both on offense and defense. Nonetheless very good win for the Hornets. 

The Pistons have shown a ton of improvement from last year. JB Bickerstaff has buy-in from Harris and Hardaway on defense and the young guys are really starting to play well for them. Ivey didn't play well in this one, but throughout the season the shooting has been there. Hopefully, Cunningham is ok from the fall and won't miss a lot of time, but the Pistons could definitely sneak into a play-in spot this season. The only concerning thing for me was Ron Holland. He is not good on the offensive end and he has really struggled shooting the ball this year. His defense is good, but he was a questionable pick in the draft this past season and it seems like the questions aren't slowing down. Nonetheless the Pistons still look good and have been super competitive in every game this year. Cade is really fun to watch too. Definitely a team to keep an eye on in the Eastern Conference play-in.