Thompson gave an enticing preview of how a Peak Pistons team works on both ends of the floor
There was no player I was more disappointed by through the first four games of the series between the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks than Detroit’s second-year forward Ausar Thompson. We knew things would be tougher in the playoffs for a non-shooting player like Thompson with so much time for the opponent to build a game plan. True to form, offense is difficult, but the biggest issue was Thompson couldn’t seem to get out of his own way. He made a number of unforced errors trying to figure out where he fit into this series.
On Tuesday night, Thompson and his team figured it out. Not only led his team to victory and extend the series, but he also showed everyone what a path to an NBA championship looks like for the Pistons.
Those titles might be years away, and Thompson is certainly several years from becoming the best version of himself, but you can already see how the young, offensively challenged product of Overtime Elite is the second most important player on Detroit’s roster.
On a night when Cade Cunningham, Detroit’s best and most important player, had an off night, Thompson did it all. He matched a career-high with 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting. He also added seven rebounds, two blocks, and hounded Jalen Brunson into his worst performance of the postseason. The Knicks star was limited to 16 points, 4-of-16 shooting and never found a way to put his stamp on the game.
Prior to Tuesday, the Thompson minutes had been a rollercoaster. He played solid defense but fouled a ton and turned the ball over in droves. Because of his offensive limitations, the Pistons and Ausar found success unleashing him as a secondary ball handler to put pressure on the rim and make the right pass. In the playoffs, none of that worked. He struggled mightily in half-court sets and went into Tuesday’s matchup averaging just 10.2 second-half minutes. Ausar, a starter, trailed just little-used Paul Reed, Ron Holland and the now-injured Isaiah Stewart in Detroit’s rotation.
The Pistons switched things up on Tuesday by taking the ball out of Thompson’s hands and putting it into the hands of Jalen Duren. The Pistons often use Duren in screens, but they fed him a steady diet of high-post looks on Tuesday. This allowed Duren to facilitate a dribble hand off or face up to drive and/or dish. The Knicks gave Duren a ton of attention every time he faced up in an attempt to prevent the powerful center from gaining easy access to the rim. Three of Duren’s six assists were to a waiting Thompson, who would go from the corner and sneak behind the defenders into the dunker’s spot for an easy look.
All eight of Thompson’s field goals were assisted on Tuesday. There was minimal dribbling into traffic and zero sophisticated coverage reads with the ball in his hands. Instead, the objective was to find the open space and dunk the basketball. Thompson was happy to oblige.
The Pistons figured out how to use this version of Thompson, and Thompson is quickly learning how to defend superstars without fouling in this version of NBA playoff basketball. And this version of Thompson will not be next year’s version, or the year’s after. He will get better, likely significantly better.
If the Pistons want to have a championship-caliber season, they need Cade Cunningham to continue learning how to orchestrate the game plan, defend all over the floor, and be the alpha on offense. They also need Thompson, an All-NBA Defense style wing who gets tasked with guarding the opposition’s best player, can switch on anybody, and who makes life hell for the other team, to figure out how to be the connective tissue on both ends of the floor for Detroit.
He will need to improve his free-throw shooting and become at least a marginal threat from deep in the corners (in Fred Vinson we trust). Thompson needs to work on those point-forward skills and, being a student of the game, continue to become one of the league’s elite defenders.
If the Pistons are able to get a Cunningham and Thompson who have both reached their respective ceilings, they already have the two key ingredients to an NBA championship. When you have two pieces that fit so well together, and who can contribute at such high levels on the defensive side of the floor, roster construction becomes much easier.
There are many ingredients to a championship team — a Robin to Cade’s Batman on the offensive end, a rim protector, versatile shooters, versatile defenders. In fact, getting a “Robin” could even cost Detroit Ausar. But I bet the team will do whatever they can to keep him a member of the Pistons, because Ausar could be one of the league’s most impactful wings in the league. And that is how NBA championships are won. On Tuesday, we saw a glimpse of a hopeful future, and it was Ausar Thompson wrecking fools.