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Pistons Overcome Slump With Impressive Win Against Timberwolves
Eric Vincent: What’s good? Detroit Sports Nation. I am Eric Vincent, your host here at the DSN News Desk. Thank you for tuning in. We appreciate your time and support and it’s coming off a much-needed Detroit Pistons victory. After playing some raggedy and some nasty basketball over these past couple of weeks, the Detroit Pistons finally got a W that was much needed to knock them out of this slump that they’ve been in, especially coming off of the injuries they’ve been dealing with as well.
So a final score tonight of 135 to 118 at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves. In impressive fashion for a few different reasons. This is, again, a game that the Detroit Pistons really needed in terms of their psyche. This is a young team. We keep talking about it, wins and losses don’t necessarily mean a whole lot at this point, but how they play and what kind of product they put on the court is what matters most.
Saddiq Bey And His Inconsistency
And this is a good game for a lot of guys who needed a good game for the Detroit Pistons tonight? Again, 135, 118 final score. And, we talked about it all season long. The roller coaster of Saddiq Bey just keeps going up and down. And today we went up. We got bad Saddiq the other night. Now we got Saddiq.
Played well, extremely well tonight, with 31 points, 10 to 16 from the field, four of six from beyond the long lines, and six rebounds. Very aggressive all night long. Really found himself in a good rhythm. And again, this was a game that Saddiq Bey needed. I’ve questioned his fit long-term with this team, basically all season long because of the inconsistency.
Are just, they’re, they’re baffling at this point. Because if you’re a true scorer, even without having a Cade Cunningham, even with Saddiq Bey, or not Saddiq Bey, excuse me, even with Killian Hayes being hurt, or like, however the lineups jumbled, if Saddiq Bey is a score that he thinks he is and is trying to position himself to be, These inconsistent games where he goes for 25 plus one night, but then it’s shooting, you know, four of 15 the next night and is giving you only like 9, 10, 11 points.
Like that can’t be consistent, so that has been my bugaboo with Saddiq Bey all season long. And I’ve questioned his, fit long-term because of it. But if you get nights like this where he can give. I don’t wanna say you wanna hold them to a 30-night standard every night, but if sad could give you anywhere between 16 to 21 points a game.Â
Whether it’s off the bench or not. I mean, I don’t think that’s too much to ask for if he’s what he’s supposed to be. Now again, the inconsistencies are a lot. He’s shooting under 40% from the field, I think 31% from the long line, which isn’t really good either. So he has a lot of work to do in terms of his game, and it seems like he’s evolving and working on different pieces every season.
So again, he needs to be able to work on that consistency and not even just for the Pistons’ sake. Because if he somehow does get moved. Or if he has, you know, another opportunity with a different team, if he’s playing this kind of inconsistent ball, he’s gonna find himself bouncing around the league. We saw this with KCP.
When he was with the Detroit Pistons for the longest, he was a sporadic score like that. Like now granted he’s become more efficient as a three-point shooter, which he never did as a piston, which drives me crazy. But that’s kind of what Saddiq is mirroring at this point. He’s kind of playing like that standard and he needs to find some kind of middle ground, some kind of efficiency.
Bojan Bogdanović Had A Strong Game
Maybe with Cade, we’ll help him out on the floor. While he doesn’t have him, he’s gotta find a way to put it together. And he did that tonight. So shout out to Saddiq Bey. This is a very awesome game for him. Bojan Bogdanović, who was injured last game and did not play bounced back strong with 27 points tonight, nine and 15 from the field, five of eight from three.
Very aggressive. Very much needed an efficient shooting game for Bojan. The backcourt stood out efficiently as well. Very proud of what we saw from the backcourt. They struggled, uh, well not they Killian Hayes kind of struggled the last game a little bit more against Philly. Jaden Ivey’s put together some pretty good games as of late, and this was a much-needed one for him as well.
18 points for Jaden Ivey, seven of 11 from the field, and eight assists. Had some really good passing. Really took care of the ball with only two turns. And you’re seeing Killian Hayes kind of compliment him as well. 18 points for Killian. Seven of 14 from the field, one of six from three, not too good, but if he comes in and gives you nine assists with some good defense as well.
Did turn the ball over three times. But again, Killian is putting together, I think, an identity for himself consistently. He’s really getting that mid-range game down right? He’s still playing awesome defense and he’s working on that three-point shot, whether it’s the step back or the catching-shoot situation.
He is improving in his jump shooting. all around right now, so I’m very happy to see that progress from Killian and Jaden Ivey as well. He has been putting a lot of emphasis on getting his jump shot together. He’s been working on his three. It’s been looking a lot better as of late, went two or three from the long line in this game against the T Wolves and even outside the three.
He’s really been putting a lot of work on that mid-range game as well. We saw him early in the season taking a lot of those awkward-looking floaters that weren’t really. And those were kind of ugly to watch. I wasn’t really enjoying those, and those really weren’t falling with any kind of consistency or regularity.
So now seeing him put some more effort into that mid-rain game from 10 to 15 feet away, he’s really starting to hone in and become a little bit more consistent with that, and that’s gonna keep going as well. This is an awesome game by him. I was really, really impressed and I was really pleased with what I saw from Jayden Ivy tonight.
Nerlens Noel Gave Detroit Pistons A Much Needed Spark
Another player who needs a lot of credit was Nerlens Noel. Now granted he only played 21 minutes, and only scored two points. But we have honed in and talked about how bad this Detroit Pistons team has been defensively, and they were still bad a little bit on some stretches tonight, but Nerlens Noel gave them a much-needed spark in the starting lineup in the middle of that team.
Nerlens Noel, throughout his career, has been a not. Rim protector and very good as a shot blocker as well. And we saw that on high display tonight with four blocks at the rim. He was out playing Rudy Gobert in a lot of stretches and possessions. I’ll never understand this trade. I didn’t like it for Minnesota then.
I hate it now. And it looked really weird. You see Rudy getting dunked on by Killian Hayes looking out of position constantly with Minnesota. And again, it looked like for a lot of defense stretches that Nerlens Noel was outplaying. And it was, it’s kind of weird to see, but I gotta give Nerlens Noel a lot of credit.
He has been a guy that’s. On a team that’s rebuilding. He’s older and he understands that he’s not gonna be a long-term solution piece for the Detroit Pistons. So guys like him have to take advantage of every opportunity that’s in front of them, and Nerlens did an awesome job tonight. I think even with the box score, not looking as impressive as it might be, he gave this team and this lineup
some much-needed help. When sometimes they would get beat on a back door cut and he would at least be there to protect and get a block at the paint or at the rim. He would do a really good job of, shadowing and stepping up to a mid-range shooter inside the paint. He would wall that off with a hand up and defend that.
He did a really good job of controlling and kind of pointing like a second line of back defense for the perimeter guys who were on the floor because that’s been the Detroit Pistons weakness all season, and having a Jalen Duren having a Nerlens Noel having a competent paint defender that can kind of help mask the errors of the players around them is huge for a young building team like the Detroit Pistons.
So having him again, he’s been as Dwane Casey and Troy Weaver ever said. A break-the-glass emergency situation. Playing in those kinds of stretches, in these kinds of moments, and seeing him be productive the way he was, and yet it’s not gonna be shown in the box for you had to actually watch the game. He was doing a lot of good things for the Detroit Pistons tonight.
Got To Give Credit To Hamidou Diallo
He made a lot of good impact plays. I’m really happy for him. Another player we gotta give credit to is Hamidou Diallo. He’s somebody else I’ve questioned about his long-term fit with the team and knowing his skillset as a player. He’s not really much of a shot creator. He’s not a guy that you run plays for.
He is not much of a consistent shooter. He’s a hustle guy. He’s a guy that sparks and creates plays and energy on his own. He will, you know, hunt down loose balls. He’ll do a lot of backdoor cuts. They’ve been using him a lot offensively to set screens for the guard and then roll to see if they can get an opportunity to get him a dunk at the hoop.
And that’s been pretty productive for him. And it showed tonight as well, seven to eight with 18 points for Hamidou. He did foul out but this is a very impressive game for him. He’s been a guy that’s been in and out of the lineup all season and to be able to rely on him and a lot of these bench pieces, a lot of these bench pieces have been hurt.
They’ve been, again, in and outta the rotation and dealing with like an influx of changes. Throughout this Detroit Pistons lineup throughout all season, and to be able to see them be productive and consistent, especially considering the Detroit Pistons have one of the best bench units in the entire NBA. To see them still be able to be productive with all the changes and all the losing and all the issues that they’ve been dealing with is very encouraging.
I do like seeing that from this Detroit Pistons team. I like seeing that from this bench. And this wasn’t an easy game to put it up against. I mean, they had Anthony Edwards who was, it’s kind of weird. Anthony Edwards had an injury earlier in the game, didn’t play a whole lot in the second or third quarter, and it was getting to be a blowout toward the fourth.
And Minnesota for whatever reason was playing hit while he was hurt and while the game was outta reach. So that made no sense to me. But, Minnesota was a team that came in with a lot of high aspirations after doing the Rudy Gobert trade. Paying Karl-Anthony Towns big money who’s currently hurting right now, so this wasn’t an easy game.
We’ve seen the Detroit Pistons struggle against all types of teams. We’ve seen them struggling against elite teams. We’ve seen them struggling against rebuilding teams like the San Antonio Spurs, so you can’t take any team lightly as the Detroit Pistons. You have to bring your best foot forth every time, best foot for it, every time, and that’s what they did tonight.
The Detroit Pistons Needed The Victory
I’m very proud of ’em. They needed this victory. Again, I want them to be in the most opportune possible position when it comes to the draft in the off-season to continue this rebuild and put the right pieces around Cade Cunningham. But at some point, you do have to shake off some of the losing. You can’t just lose 30, or 40 games in a row and say, Hey, we’re trying to take it out.
Just make it happen. No, no, no. You don’t want to do that. You don’t want to do that. Especially with a young team, with young pieces and young players trying to build their confidence and show that they belong in the league. You don’t want to go on these super long stretches of losing like that.
So very encouraged by what the Detroit Pistons did tonight, and I really hope you were as well. Talk to me in the comments section. I’d love to hear from you. What did you think about the Detroit Pistons victory tonight against Minnesota? What stood out to you? What would you like to see improve next game? Talk to me. I’d love to hear your feedback in the comment section.
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Peace.
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