Thoughts on the game after watching it in full (I missed it yesterday):
- The Celtics coaching staff tried to take advantage of the mismatch Brown had on Svi, which is very encouraging as it finally gave Brown a larger role on offence.
- Drummond looked very comfortable with the ball in his hands, his handle is really good for a big of his reputation. He might not be a great offensive big man, but his handle gives him some ability to create offence. His hands are also surprisingly quick - he guarded Kemba pretty well on switches due to his ability to poke the ball loose.
- Kanter's offensive rebounding is nuts, he wreaked havoc on the Pistons frontcourt that has the best defensive rebounding big in the league.
- Javonte Green looked decisive tonight, making basic reads with no hesitation and was a low-error player on both ends of the court. His athleticism and motor made him disruptive on defence and allowed him to pick up some easy baskets.
- Incredible game by Jaylen Brown. His scoring arsenal was on full display this game - a force off the dribble that is too strong for smalls, too explosive for wings and too fast for bigs that possesses a variety of spins, fakes, between the legs and crossovers to create separation for high quality looks, and his improved shooting makes him a threat from anywhere in the half court. His passing game has also made the jump I was hopeful of from his FIBA performance - he's an adequate playmaker who converts a good amount of simple reads to make defences pay for collapsing on him. He's still lacking when it comes to making advanced passes (I think he missed almost every advanced dish available), but the ability to make those simple reads to complement his already robust scoring game for a secondary/tertiary creator is already All-Star stuff when you take his defence into account.
- Tatum's scoring looked good. His inability to convert a worrying amount of basic passing looks is still annoying, but his shot creation has gotten better - he creates more separation for cleaner stepbacks and he has refined his dribble game off a DHO/PnR to keep his defender on his back for floaters/layups over the rim protector. His dribble moves to initiate drives look less premeditated as well.
- Theis had an amazing defensive night. His versatility showed its value - he was fast enough to play good help defence when Detroit's perimeter players got to the basket, but was long and bouncy enough to contest Detroit's bigs for some big time blocks. His horizontal game also shined in the game with him affecting the dribble penetration of Detroit's guards whenever he had to step out.
- Grant Williams will have a long career in the NBA. His positioning and IQ is veteran-like, giving us a number of good plays on both ends of the court by just being in the right place at the right time. The stuff he does is just so valuable for a team needing solid role players to support its stars - he knows where to go, what to do and when to execute on the court.
- Romeo showed flashes of potential. He has the potential to be a strong defensive guard/wing hybrid with his Tatum-like knack for getting deflections and his wingspan helping him poke the ball when his assignment is making a move every now and then. His awareness isn't there yet but it's to be expected for a rookie. The scoring looked nice - I was impressed by his drive off a Kanter DHO where he kept the defender on his back and used his handle and quickness to glide to the hoop to lay it up over Drummond, as well as the pro-hop step (is that what it's called?) to get past the help defence for an open floater in the short-mid (that was a veteran scoring move).
Topic: Pistons (11-17) at Celtics (18-7) Game #26 12/20/19 (Read 33167 times)