Comments on: Poor final minute dooms Pistons against Portland

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 17:40:20 +0000

Good point, and really, the Pistons seem to get killed in transition every game.

By: brgulker

brgulker — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:45:41 +0000

I think Patrick’s analysis of the final minutes is really good. I understand why Kuester played the group he did (keep the hot hands out there), but I would have at least swapped out Daye for McGrady.

I think what’s not been discussed on the blogosphere yet, though, is the several “cherry pick” layups that we allowed throughout the game. Had we simply applied basketball 101: get back on defense, we win last night’s game. Literally, we spotted them 6-8 points by failing to run back after taking a shot.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:45:10 +0000

Yeah, it was just an overall bad possession. But there was still 10 seconds on the shot clock when Daye got the ball. It just looked like he and Gordon both thought they had to get a three on that possession. Not sure why they thought that.

By: detroitpcb

detroitpcb — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 13:55:48 +0000

i thought Will Bynum played the best defense i have ever seen him play and was shocked when he was removed from the game for defensive purposes.

His judgement on offense was/is still very suspect (those bad decisions that result in blocked shots) but he has been more proactive in looking for teammates earlier in the clock and actually played like a point guard for a stretch in the first half.

Daye did not play well in yesterday’s game but it is hard to fault him for that last three pointer. Ben Gordon basically hung him out to dry. If Gordon passes the ball earlier, Daye has a chance to make a move or even go to the basket but he received the ball with so little time on the clock and his man right on him since Gordon foolishly picked up his dribble.

By: Fennis

Fennis — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 06:45:05 +0000

Laser –

It’s pure comedy that the person most likely to post inane, repetitive, ill-considered comments is the same person most likely to dismiss the comments of others.

I have to break with BG and admit that Bynum played great tonight. I was especially impressed with his defense, which made Kuester’s late-game switch to Stuckey the right move in the wrong game. Stuckey was cold, tight, and clearly pissed off about having to warm up for a single defensive possession when Bynum was humming.

I have no fundamental problem with Bynum being a shoot-first, change of pace pg. But I really hate the number of iso plays we run in a given game, be it T-Mac, Prince, Stuckey, or Bynum. If these guys were All-Stars it’d be one thing. But to run 40%-50% isolation plays a game with average to above-average talent seems simple-minded at best. Why not utilize the benefits of team basketball to compensate for the talent disparity? I’m beginning to think that Will Bynum’s one-on-one play is less “the problem” and more symptomatic of a larger problem, which is the lack of motion and ball movement in the half-court set. Ever see Boston and San Antonio whip the ball around the perimeter to loosen the defense? It’s beautiful basketball. We rarely do that, and our one-on-one talent doesn’t compare to either of those teams. I don’t mean to take away from Bynum’s night or his last two games, but I do think there needs to be a larger discussion of the amount of one-on-one basketball we’re seeing in the half-court set. The lack of motion becomes painfully evident in crunch time when defenses dig in and ball movement becomes critical to getting a good shot.

Doc Rivers has a saying — “No hero basketball,” i.e., move the ball and use your teammates rather than devolving into isos. If he can convince Pierce, Garnett, and Allen, Kuester should be able to do the same in the D. I don’t think it’s a matter of selfishness. It’s more a function of a style of play that the primary ball handlers cultivate.

By: Laser

Laser — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 06:29:38 +0000

i don’t think i misinterpreted anything too badly. surely you see what i meant about how you phrased the bit about kuester’s play call. and my bit about kuester getting a free pass was just a reaction to the fact that i think he doesn’t deserve credit for anything. so it made me cringe that he seemed to get a pass for one play that didn’t work out where seemed like the players were set on a specific plan just because he said it wasn’t his fault, while getting credit for another one that seemed very much like the kind of thing that routinely develops when a player improvises. i mean, it’s a heck of a set play that gets a credible offensive threat completely free right under the basket with nobody anywhere near him or even aware he exists at all. we should run that one more often! every play would be a bunny for g-money!

By: Laser

Laser — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 05:03:26 +0000

yeah, i was actually going to point out the layups at the end of the game, even though you’re unnecessarily hard on bynum to the point of making it easy to just ignore anything you have to say. so before that he was 4 of 9. but there’s a reason he was on the floor down the stretch, when the team fought back and made it interesting. he was playing good basketball. that guy has to earn EVERY SINGLE MINUTE he plays. nothing is handed to him. he’s not a classic point guard, but when he’s your best option (as he was tonight) how can you complain? let’s get this team a damn traditional point guard so bynum can be marginalized to an extent that everyone’s comfortable with. it’s not bynum’s fault that he’s a shoot-first, backup quality, change-of-pace style point guard who happens to be the team’s best option pretty frequently. so they’re asking him to do more than he’s capable of. but he’s been GREAT lately. so he’s a ridiculous guy to complain about. complain about joe dumars sticking with stuckey too long, not drafting ty lawson, not trying to sign felton, not trying to trade for someone. but leave bynum out of it. he is who he is, and this team is not built around him. hell, the first version of this newest shortened roster involved bynum out of the rotation for one game (a loss) before he was inserted as t-mac’s backup. he’s an afterthought. yet somehow he’s often our best option. that’s not his fault. it’s joe d’s.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 04:58:44 +0000

It’s not that it’s a chore. I just thought you were misinterpreting some things I wrote.
As for the “in his defense” qualifier, I just meant that as he said it wasn’t his fault. I have no way of knowing if it was or wasn’t. I should hope that he didn’t call for a three. He’s already proven to be a terrible coach, but he’s been around the NBA for about 400 years, so I would assume he’d have to know that you absolutely don’t go for a contested three in that situation. But maybe I shouldn’t assume anything.

By: bg8

bg8 — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 04:55:25 +0000

simple, stuckey wasn’t in the 4th when the game was on the line, so he doesn’t deserve to get any credit or blame for the game result. yeah he played the first 3 quarter but when its a tight game in the ending of the 4th, the first 3 quarter doesn’t matter anymore.

for daye, well that was a really stupid shot at the end of the game, should’ve been like bg and pass it up. but really, he just didn’t really stood out much whether it was for a bad thing or a good thing, and really only had that one bad shot, so i don’t wanna talk about him

and its easy to pick on bynum, hes the point guard and im a bynum hater. i wouldn’t be complaining much if he could just set up his teammate and not look for his shots so much. he has the ability to create for his teammate but he just wanna be the superstar, the hero

By: Laser

Laser — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 04:51:19 +0000

you didn’t need to get that into it, hayes. not if you considered it a chore, or a “here we go again” situation. i was just thinking out loud and pointing out an interesting phenomenon. not singling you out here. but i could really see how pistons fans would look at all the things they did right and/or portland did wrong and think the pistons deserved this one. this was the kind of game where the analysts and team and some fans would say they should have won when, in fact, they didn’t. it doesn’t take much to beat the pistons, and opponents have spent much of this season by doing “just enough.” i can’t remember the last time i saw a team play so many close games that really didn’t have to be so close. and it’s not an accident.

ok kuester: you certainly implied you believed kuester. “In Kuester’s defense, he said in the postgame presser that the play was to go for two, so that was improvisation on the part of Daye and Gordon.” starting that sentence with “in kuester’s defense” leads me to believe you meant to defend him. i’d have read it differently if you said “in kuester’s own defense.” thus, it sounds very much like the conclusion that daye and gordon improvised is your own. you’re a competent writer. you see what i’m saying here.

my thing with kuester is that i’d literally feed him to an actual pack of wolves without conscience and replace him with literally anyone, including michael curry. i think he’s proven himself to be incompetent many times over. i’d never give him the benefit of any doubt. i’m sure there are times when he draws up big plays and they get executed to perfection. i think i remember it happening maybe twice in his two seasons coaching. i mean, he was sold as an X’s and O’s kind of guy, and god knows he’s displayed nothing else that would lead anyone to believe he deserves the job. i just hesitate to give him automatic credit for anything that happens on the court. if a credible source says he knows kuester drew up a given play, i’ll take his word for it. but i’d never just guess he did.

and yes, you have criticized kuester in this recap and others, so that was an unfortunate sentence to write. that was some of my classic hyperbole, so i’m sorry if it sounded like you were going overboard in supporting that bum. but i swear to god i’d feed him to a bear. i want nothing to do with him. anything positive anyone has to say about him sets me off. glad to see we at least agree that he needs to take some blame when things go south, like they seem to do almost nightly, even if he did draw up a play that made some sense.