Little Caesars Arena will be rocking
Jalen Brunson is not a perfect player, but he’s never been afraid of the big moment. Brunson, the New York Knicks star guard, is hobbled with an ankle injury and coming off his worst showing of the postseason. The Detroit Pistons can’t take that for granted. They better be ready for the best of Brunson.
We’ve already seen the best of Ausar Thompson, whose suffocating defense and efficient offense propelled the Pistons to victory in a must-win game 5. Cade Cunningham had an off night until deep in the second half, when a seemingly tired Knicks team couldn’t keep him off the free-throw line. Game 5 also saw a great game from Jalen Duren and another quality, passionate performance from Tobias Harris. The pieces are almost all clicking into place. Here is hoping it is enough to force a decisive Game 7 in New York.
Game Vitals
When: 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Watch: TNT, TruTV, MAX, FanDuel Sports Network Detroit
Odds: Pistons -1.5
Analysis
Avoid foul trouble. Force Jalen Brunson to guard for 48 minutes. Limit turnovers.
End.
I guess, I can be a little more verbose than that. Those truly are the three ingredients for a successful Game 6, to my mind. The Pistons excelled by designing some offensive sets that simultaneously took the ball out of Ausar Thompson’s hands and made him infinitely more dangerous as a roaming threat near the basket. Equally as important, though, was Ausar figuring out a way to play top-level aggressive defense without getting into early foul trouble. The Knicks, I am sure, have studied film on how to mitigate some of those easy looks Ausar was feasing on, but his defensive play is up to him, his team (and the refs).
Brunson rolled his ankle late in the game on Tuesday and was forced to sit for the decisive minutes when the Pistons were able to pull away just enough. Detroit needs to maximize the strain on Brunson by forcing him to guard dangerous players at all times. The Pistons aren’t exactly awash in lethality with its perimeter shooters having extended cold spells. However, the Pistons can at least force Brunson into constant movement if they are more willing to use Tim Hardaway Jr., Malik Beasley, and Dennis Schroder as screeners when sharing the floor with Cade Cunningham. Force Brunson to fight through screens, switch onto Cade (who can cook Brunson), or retreat under the screen and sprint to recover.
I have no illusions about Brunson having an equally off night offensively as he did in Game 5, but the Pistons can make him work for his points, and that can pay off as the minutes and the miles pile up on that ankle. It could lead to less efficient offense and a huge defensive mismatch.
The Pistons have 23 more turnovers than the Knicks this series. They have 13 more than the next worst team, which was the completely checked out and overmatched Memphis Grizzlies (granted, they only suffered through a four-game sweep). Leading the playoffs is Cade Cunningham with 29. It would be great to not lead the NBA in those stats. Cunningham, Thompson and Jalen Duren are the guys most likely to unleash a bewildering turnover (or four), and if they can tamp that down, it will put the Pistons in a terrific position to get the W.
I suppose a little more digital ink should be spilled on Cunningham. He’s been so great in these playoffs, it is easy to take his contributions for granted. I’m guilty of focusing more on his flaws (turnovers) than his gifts, but that is only because I know the best version of Cade can play at such a higher level than where he finds himself now.
Where he finds himself now, to be clear, is averaging 25.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 8.8 assists per game. He’s also averaging 7.2 trips to the free-throw line. Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns have played some great basketball, and they have both hit more than a handful of clutch shots in this series. We’re still waiting for that true breakout Cade game. It’d be great to see it happen in Detroit.
But also, let’s not forget how absolutely sick this pass was to Ausar to effectively seal game 5 for the Pistons.
Projected Lineups
Detroit Pistons (3-2)
Cade Cunningham, Tim Hardaway Jr., Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren
New York Knicks (3-2)
Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns
Question of the Game
Any technicals called tonight and who gets them?