#21 - Pistons@Pacers - 8pm ET

[whitehops]

fun game to watch, loved the energy especially playing on the road.

so we play the bucks tuesday in our last cup game and if we win, we're in the knockout stage. if we lose though, one wildcard team from the 3 east groups still advances. the magic and knicks are both 3-0 and play each other tuesday and the magic better win because their point differential +60, while the knicks is +15 (we're +28). group C has played all their games and the celtics came second because they lost to the hawks H2H and their point differential is +23.

essentially: we win, we advance. if we lose, we need the magic to beat the knicks AND lose by less than 5 points to advance. the tourney doesn't include overtime scoring in point differential, otherwise we'd have a 7 point advantage over the celtics and have a little more leeway in terms of a loss.

hopefully they come out with the same energy/effort on tuesday!

[guldakot]

(extend Beasley as soon as feasibly possible, his chemistry with Cade and the rest is excellent, and he brings swagger that we haven't had in literally like 20 friggin years.)

I agree to a point, but if you could get someone similar who likes to box out...

I was just as upset with that as every other pistons fan, but my counter is that JB shouldnt have put him in that situation to begin with.

[bstein14]

#1. With everyone healthy Bickerstaff ran a 10 man unit like many people here said he wouldn't. It'll be interesting to see if that continues.

#2. After some early criticisms (deservedly so) about Duren's lack of rim protection he had 4 blocks and was fully engaged in this one on defense. Hopefully its something he continues with energy/effort wise on that end going forward.

#3. Everyone played less than 33 minutes which is great considering we have a back-to-back with travel tonight.

#4. Felt like our best offense all season 58 FG% 47 3pt% 80 FT% and 35 assists only downside was a few TOs Indy forced late.

[whitehops]

and i hate to say because i'm really happy for his overall health but ausar has looked like a shell of himself since returning. his defense is nowhere near what it was last season, his handle is as loose as ever, he attacks the paint with no plan and his finishing at the rim is head-scratching.

the play that really stood out to me tonight was when he pump faked (i think it was turner) on a drive, pivoted, was totally wide open RIGHT UNDER THE BASKET, and then faded away for a shot only to blocked by a trailing johnny furphy. last season ausar would've gone straight up and dunked that with ease, which he did routinely.

this is the shot

[JD43320]

I think you are way underestimating the impact of a blood clot issue for an NBA. Players have had to retire because of them. He wasn't allowed to participate in basketball activities until a little over two weeks ago. He's still on a minute restriction. It's going to take a while for him to get back in to shape and look remotely like he did last season. Obviously there are big parts of his game that still need work but him being really rusty and out of sync should be expected right now.

[Kalamazoo317]

and i hate to say because i'm really happy for his overall health but ausar has looked like a shell of himself since returning. his defense is nowhere near what it was last season, his handle is as loose as ever, he attacks the paint with no plan and his finishing at the rim is head-scratching.

the play that really stood out to me tonight was when he pump faked (i think it was turner) on a drive, pivoted, was totally wide open RIGHT UNDER THE BASKET, and then faded away for a shot only to blocked by a trailing johnny furphy. last season ausar would've gone straight up and dunked that with ease, which he did routinely.

this is the shot

His defensive impact is nowhere near the level of last season yet, but I do think it mattered a few times here and there last night. I think we should treat him like it's preseason for him, basically, and expect it to take him a bit to find himself again. And, also, to improve, since he's fairly raw. Glad to see him shooting with more confidence last night even if he bricked it twice before swishing the third (and even if it was all on wide open corner threes).

I do like that so far Ausar hasn't pushed Holland out of the rotation. I also like that in our last game the rotations worked in a way that our spacing was never killed despite playing Ausar, Duren, and Holland all significant minutes. When Tobias and Cade were out last game the spacing issues felt like last season. At full strength, though, it doesn't seem to be a problem.

I think this was our best game of the season so far. Nice to see what JB can do with a fully healthy roster and nice to see Cade balling out right away instead of starting back slow.

[bstein14]

There is for sure some early cause for concern with how Ausar has started this season. He started his rookie year just rebounding like a beast, defending with incredible energy, etc... but that certainly didn't last all season either he was clearly rattled a bit when coach started benching him due to passing up open threes.

[NYPiston]

That might have been the biggest win of the Cade era, as sad as that is. Beasley was an enormous pickup, he's been way better than the Bogey/Burks very one dimensional ball hogging vets of the Weaver era. Still young enough that I'd like to see him re-signed but I think he'll sign with a better team next season.

Regardless, big win to crush that mostly healthy Pacers team on the road. The team seemed to be teetering on the edge of letting the season spiral out of control but are getting the healthy bodies back in time to steady the ship for a much harder upcoming schedule.

[zeebneeb]

Wow, what a game. Didn't get to see it live, was out. "Most consecutive games with 9+ assists since Isiah Thomas."~Blaha on Cade.

Think about all the years since 1989, and all the damn good guards, and ball handlers since then.

Perhaps a glimpse of all the talent the team has amassed, coming together.

Got no real complaints. Passion, execution, leadership, damn.