PG - Matas good

[DASMACKDOWN]

My breakdown

The team had a fantastic first quarter. Played well in the 2nd quarter. Then stalled a bit in the 3rd quarter. In the 4th quarter, the Pistons raised their intensity and we were starting to fold. We held on to win down the stretch. This was a learning experience to what we need to focus on and what we need to do for the whole 48 minutes.

Stars of the game: Vooch and Matas

Vooch 28pts 14 rebs. He was fantastic tonight. I actually think we sat him too long in the 3rd and 4th when we had no offense going. But Vooch was steady on the offensive end.

Matas 21pts 6rebs 3 blks I thought Matas played some great defense tonight. He diverted a lot of shots around the basket. I actually thought there were alot of times people missed him but he played a fantastic game.

The next best was Tre Jones. He had a fantastic floor game 12pts 8ass only 2 turnovers.

I think between Giddey, Ayo and Huerter it was a tale of 2 halves. All 3 played amazing early, but in the second half it was a big struggle for them. Giddey having 6 turnovers was not good. It could have been 7. But he will bounce back.

I thought Patrick played really well defensively.
Okoro was horrible on offense and not really that impactful on defense. Dont let the plus minus fool you. He had a bad game.
Jalen Smith and Terry were pretty awful.

[Bulliever2020]

Seeing Pat so active tonight was extremely encouraging. Saw more hustle/effort plays out of him tonight than I ever have.

[madvillian]

Great game: Vuc
Jalen is charmin soft

His hands are just so damn bad. Josh put it on a platter for him 2-3 times and he fumbled it or blew a layup.

[kodo]

Seeing Pat so active tonight was extremely encouraging. Saw more hustle/effort plays out of him tonight than I ever have.

Patrick starting a fight with Duren would have been a great cherry on top of this win.

[madvillian]

Seeing Pat so active tonight was extremely encouraging. Saw more hustle/effort plays out of him tonight than I ever have.

And he actually showed some emotion when Duren grabbed his jersey when he was in the air. He hopefully can settle into a useful 3 and D 7th man role this year. He showed some signs tonight. Did what was needed in his minutes. As did Huerter imo. Solid games as role players.

[StephenAA]

*
Thoughts:

1. We don't win this game without Vuc - it pains me to say that...

2. Okoro really struggles offensively, but his defense is solid

3. Holland almost single handedly beat us. He's a player! Fouls the opposing player on almost every play, but I'd love him on our team any day...

4. Matas was solid on both ends of the floor. I almost like the blocks more than the slams...

5. Jalen Smith was horrible

6. Giddy, Ayo and Kevin were solid.

7. Tre Jones is a keeper. When Giddy went out with foul trouble, I had complete confidence that Tre could lead us.

8. We have a deep bench

AA

[meekrab]

Seeing Pat so active tonight was extremely encouraging. Saw more hustle/effort plays out of him tonight than I ever have.

Patrick starting a fight with Duren would have been a great cherry on top of this win.

Maybe next time he'll push Vuc off himself.

[Indomitable]

Assist by Okoro, who "sucks" apparently

He is a train wreck on offense. He struggles to dribble in a straight line.

[Mk0]

Did anyone watch that game and think, "I wish they would have played Essengue?"

I mean I was more curious as to why the hell Dalen Terry was getting so much burn. But I wouldn't put Essengue in for him. I would have let JP get that burn.

[StephenAA]

Did anyone watch that game and think, "I wish they would have played Essengue?"

*
um. no.
Bring him along slowly. He is a big work in progress with high upside...

AA

[Jcool0]

Okoro gave us a very Lonzo-like game. Good defense, made some good assists, couldn't shoot worth a damn. And overall he was +17 on the night much higher than any other player in the building. It's a vintage Lonzo game, but he's available every night and pretty young. Lonzo was 1-7 himself tonight.

Jalen Smith was actually terrible, on either end.

Giddey & Tre with 19 assists was nice to watch, it's not easy to generate offense as a bad team with your best scorer out but they kept the offense for 3 quarters. Vuc obviously did most of the damage, but he was set up on every single make.

When did he play good defense?

[StephenAA]

*
Reality: Okoro is the new Bogans

And if I remember right, we went to the EC Finals with Bogan's at the 2. That's how good Derrick Rose was...

AA

[kodo]

Okoro gave us a very Lonzo-like game. Good defense, made some good assists, couldn't shoot worth a damn. And overall he was +17 on the night much higher than any other player in the building. It's a vintage Lonzo game, but he's available every night and pretty young. Lonzo was 1-7 himself tonight.

Jalen Smith was actually terrible, on either end.

Giddey & Tre with 19 assists was nice to watch, it's not easy to generate offense as a bad team with your best scorer out but they kept the offense for 3 quarters. Vuc obviously did most of the damage, but he was set up on every single make.

When did he play good defense?

The game I watched?
Cade Cunningham didn't score for 2 straight quarters and he's one of the best players in the league. He closed the night shooting 33%.

[Mk0]

Okoro gave us a very Lonzo-like game. Good defense, made some good assists, couldn't shoot worth a damn. And overall he was +17 on the night much higher than any other player in the building. It's a vintage Lonzo game, but he's available every night and pretty young. Lonzo was 1-7 himself tonight.

Jalen Smith was actually terrible, on either end.

Giddey & Tre with 19 assists was nice to watch, it's not easy to generate offense as a bad team with your best scorer out but they kept the offense for 3 quarters. Vuc obviously did most of the damage, but he was set up on every single make.

When did he play good defense?

He had a good rebound in the clutch?

idk man. I haven't seen him as more than JAG off someone's bench, but then he came here and is starting.

At least he kept the ball moving?

[Red8911]

What a relief they didn’t blow this game. They were up big for a long time but this ended up being another typical bulls game where it goes down to the last possession.

Vuc was incredible all game long and made some clutch shots in the end.

Matas did his thing with a couple of nice dunks. Giddey was good but got himself in foul trouble and ofcourse almost screwed the game over late 4th.

Tre Jones too stepped up big time made same huge plays on both ends, so glad they kept him. Also guys like Ayo, Huerter were solid. Even P Will looked decent for once.

Always nice to win the season opener. Hopefully they continue to play like this.

[Indomitable]

*
Reality: Okoro is the new Bogans

And if I remember right, we went to the EC Finals with Bogan's at the 2. That's how good Derrick Rose was...

AA

Bogans knew he sucked and understood how to play.

[Indomitable]

Okoro gave us a very Lonzo-like game. Good defense, made some good assists, couldn't shoot worth a damn. And overall he was +17 on the night much higher than any other player in the building. It's a vintage Lonzo game, but he's available every night and pretty young. Lonzo was 1-7 himself tonight.

Jalen Smith was actually terrible, on either end.

Giddey & Tre with 19 assists was nice to watch, it's not easy to generate offense as a bad team with your best scorer out but they kept the offense for 3 quarters. Vuc obviously did most of the damage, but he was set up on every single make.

When did he play good defense?

The game I watched?
Cade Cunningham didn't score for 2 straight quarters and he's one of the best players in the league. He closed the night shooting 33%.

Okoro passing sucked.

[madvillian]

*
Reality: Okoro is the new Bogans

And if I remember right, we went to the EC Finals with Bogan's at the 2. That's how good Derrick Rose was...

AA

I'm old enough to remember people defending 4-5 offense because the brilliance of Derrick Rose.

[Mk0]

*
Reality: Okoro is the new Bogans

And if I remember right, we went to the EC Finals with Bogan's at the 2. That's how good Derrick Rose was...

AA

Bogans knew he sucked and understood how to play.

It isn't like Okoro took a bunch of ill-advised shots. He was 0-2 on the night. The issue is that in today's NBA you can't be a zero on offense.

His struggles on that end were bad enough on the Cavs and they had an elite team and spacing. idk how he is going to contribute on that end for this team.

[Jvaughn]

20/6 with 3 stocks is basically the high end of what you could possibly expect from a second year Matas.

looked pretty effortless imo. He needs more usage. Giddey and him don't have a lot of chemistry seemingly, hope it improves, one of my few complaints from tonight.

When the popup came up and said he had 17, I couldn't believe it. Thought at most it was 11. He had that on 8 shots. That's prime Jimmy Butler level efficiency. Imagine when he starts to push the issue and be more assertive. Sky really is the limit.