In a season largely defined by what they weren’t able to accomplish, the 16-63 Detroit Pistons have still found ways to be intriguing.
Their rookie duo — Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren — is a big reason why.
Ivey and Duren have both met, and in some instances, exceeded expectations. Their individual versions of athleticism have translated from college to the NBA. Ivey is a blur, and can create fastbreak layups simply by outracing opponents to the basket. Duren is not built like the typical teenager; his 7-foot, muscular frame his buoyed by a high vertical leap and excellent reach.
Those physical traits have helped them continue to compete and produce highlights this season. The Pistons’ two 2022 lottery picks have given fans an incentive to continue tuning in. Their performances in Tuesday’s 118-105 home loss to the Heat highlight why they were two of the top prospects in the draft and provided more reasons for voters to reward them with spots on the All-Rookie team berths on their awards ballots, which must be cast by April 10.
DECISIONS, DECISIONS: What’s the Pistons best lineup in 2023-24: With Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller?
Ivey (30 points, seven assists, 11-for-15 shooting) and Duren (20 points, 14 rebounds and a block) were two of the best players on the floor in a game that included All-Stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. Detroit — which was down to just nine healthy players — hung around for 43 minutes before the road team pulled away with a late 20-6 run, thanks to 18 fourth-quarter points from Jimmy Butler.
After a rough March, Ivey is warming up again. In his last five games before Friday, he averaged 21.6 points and eight assists while shooting 42.9% overall, 38.9% from 3 on 7.2 attempts, and 95.7% shooting at the line. Tuesday was one of his best shooting performances yet, making 4 of 6 3-pointers.
His five turnovers were a blight. Otherwise, Ivey was a primary reason why the Pistons were able to rally back from deficits of 17 and 12 points in the second and third quarters, respectively.
“From a scoring standpoint, I thought he did an excellent job,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey said after the game. “When you’re a scorer, they’re not going to just let you come down the floor, you gotta find other people, and that’s his next challenge, next area of growth is making sure he quarterbacks and finds and makes the right reads when they do shock him, or blitz him in those equations. Love his scoring mentality, I think he did a great job of getting the shot he wanted until they started to blitz him, and now you gotta make the right read.”
Ivey shot 37.3% from 3 in his last 10 games before Tuesday. An early-season weakness has become a strength. After hitting just 30.5% of his 3s in November and 31% in December, he’s hit 41.9% in February before coming down to a more-sustainable 34.7% last month.
“I’m constantly working on it, I think that’s the biggest thing,” he said of his outside shot. “Earlier in the season, I was getting down on myself. I was missing a lot of shots that I believe I can make. I couldn’t really sit with it. If I’m having a bad game or I’m missing a lot of shots, I feel like I just gotta get back in the gym, keep working and I tried to take that with me this whole season, whether I made shots. I was making shots, I’m still doing my routine, still getting my work in even if I miss shots. It’s still the same routine, I just gotta stick with that.”
THE GM SPEAKS: Troy Weaver’s odd letter to Pistons fans regrets nothing
When Ivey is locked in, he makes the game look effortless. Few defenders can stay in front of him. He repeatedly cut through the teeth of Miami’s defense, but his early 3-pointers set up his big night. If he remains a consistent outside shooting threat, it will be tough for opponents to contain him.
Ivey and Duren, once again, showcased their strong chemistry. Ivey’s first three assists were all in the second quarter, and they all led to Duren paint buckets. He found his big man, who had a step on Adebayo, cutting down the middle of the lane for a layup, and again, while Duren showed the ability to gather the ball in space and dunk.
Ivey has developed a knack for getting the ball to Duren, to borrow a Casey phrase, “on-time and on-target.”
“He’s dominant,” Ivey said of Duren. “He stretches the floor out a lot in the pick and roll. He opens the floor a lot. The defense has to have low men there or he’s going to have dunks at the rim, easy dunks and layups. You gotta give something, you gotta have a low presence in which he did tonight. I feel like we were able to make the next read and find the 3-point shooters and give everyone else some room.”
The biggest knock on their night were Duren’s late turnovers that helped the Heat pull away late. After Butler’s three free throws gave the Heat a 107-99 lead with 2:47 remaining, Duren threw a bad entry pass to James Wiseman to give Detroit another possession. It was Detroit’s first turnover of the quarter, and it came at an unfortunate time. He got the ball ripped from him w/by Tyler Herro with around a minute and 30 seconds.
The Pistons went cold from 3 before Duren’s miscues. It wasn’t solely his fault. But the Pistons trust he’ll make up for them.
“JD is a very smart player,” Casey said. “He picks up quickly, he understands. Even if he makes a mistake, he bounces right back and that helps him.”
Detroit’s path to a 17th win (at home against Brooklyn on Wednesday, then at Indiana Friday and Chicago Sunday to close the season) may be difficult. But Ivey will do his part anyway.
“Whether or not we have the players who are injured, like you said, we believe we can win any game,” Ivey said. “That’s just the mentality that we have, or I feel like we should have that mentality going into games. I think it’s very big to finish these last couple of games strong.”
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa.