The Detroit Pistons may have been without Cade Cunningham and Simone Fontecchio in Boston against the Celtics on Monday night, but there were reasons to be excited.
What would Jaden Ivey look like as The Man in the starting lineup? Would Marcus Sasser do well with an expanded role? Does Jalen Duren’s recent offensive success still carry over without Cade around?
Well, none of those things went particularly well.
Ivey had a meh 21 points, Sasser was outplayed by Peyton Pritchard, and Jalen Duren looked a hell of a lot less demonstrative. Oh, and the Pistons rolled over in the second half, losing a laugher to the Celtics, 119-94.
I really had high hopes for Ivey tonight. His jumper has been such a mess for the last month or two, but I thought the lead ball handler role would help give him a little more confidence. It did, in some ways, as he knocked down 10 of his 19 shots.
But he didn’t really do anything else. It was just an empty offensive outing until some token assists when the game was very out of reach late.
In his defense, Sasser did a lot the playmaking stuff that I hoped Ivey would, finishing with six assists, but he couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. I’m still not sure what the role is for him on this team. Feels like he needs the ball in his hands, which is tough because so do Ivey and, to a lesser extent, Cade.
Duren was just a guy. His offense and rebounding weren’t good enough to offset the defense, which wasn’t as egregious tonight as it was last game. With his general lack of energy on D, he had no chance guarding a big man like Kristaps Porzingis.
The big man had 20 for the Celtics while Derrick White had 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to notch his first career triple-double. He nailed six threes as the Pistons were unable to phase him in the slightest. It was an embarrassing showing for any guard who tried to take on that match up.
Whatever the opposite of “rising to the challenge” is, that was what the Pistons guards did against White tonight.
James Wiseman continued his little Killian-Hayes-in-Winter-2022 revival tour tonight with 12 points and five rebounds. I’m at peace with the idea that he’s coming back — nothing I can do about that — but I just hope he comes back as the third center in 2024-25.
Not sure there’s anything else to cover, really. The Pistons were lifeless.
Let us know what caught your eye — good or bad — in the comments.