Series Split. Pistons Win First. Boston Laughs Last.
Breaking the ice and getting the first wins of the season can be rough, just ask the Toronto Raptors who started 1-3. Playing hard and tough is becoming a nightly occurrence, as is giving up 4th quarter leads. In this season we will need to take advantage of teams that play three games in four nights and the Pistons did just that winning their first game of the season last Friday. It had to be known that the Celtics would come into Sunday more rested and with more fight, which was the case, but it took a last second shot by All-Star Jayson Tatum to finish off the Pistons . This team plays with a steady and forceful approach that has kept them in all the games this season and with a more consistent 4th quarter offense we could win some games this year where we outplay our talent level.
The start to Fridays game was as good as any over the last two years. Our defensive pressure forced eight first quarter TO's and by mid way through the 2nd quarter we were up by 20 points. This first half surge was led by Saddiq Bey's outstanding shooting. His release point is a bit low, but he has a quick trigger that takes no time to get off. While Boston did comeback and take the lead late in the game we held them scoreless for the final 4:41 of the game giving us our first victory. It came with a bit of an asterisk because this was Boston's third game in four nights. In this league you have to take'em when you can get'em....
Jerami Grant continued his high usage and high production offense to continue to lead us. His 3PT shooting has taken a bit of a dive, but otherwise he continues to prove me wrong and has been a consistent all-around threat. Killian finally starting making aggressive plays towards the hoop and continues to take steps forward, all be it small. He is the fifth scoring option on the first unit, so judging his performance based on scoring is erroneous. His success should be based off of assists, aggressive TO's, and defensive presence. His vision is good and he is very tempered. His 2-1 assists to TO margin is low, but rookie PG's can certainly be worse. When Payton Pritchard picked him up at half court he got flustered and if he can't take pressure off of himself in those situations it will continue to happen consistently. Mason Plumlee continued his rock solid play and he is showing that he is a very competent C in todays game amassing 17 points and 8 rebounds. Saddiq continued his aggressive shooting scoring 17 points and he also managed 6 rebounds.
Sunday's matinée game was a welcomed chance to put together, god forbid, a win streak. It wasn't shocking that Boston came out firing and Jaylen Brown was the main perpetrator of this in the 1st half. He is creating the debate of whether or not he is the best player on the team. We managed to take every haymaker that the Celtics threw at us and stayed with them the entire game. Again Jerami Grant led us in scoring and took on tough defensive assignments and once again he did a great job. It was tough to see Josh Jackson go down with an ankle injury in the 3rd quarter, but injuries are part of the game. Its not hard to imagine that if he was in the game on the last play, he would've been guarding Jaylen Brown, which would have left the much more athletic Grant on Tatum's final shot instead of Blake Griffin. It is nice to see Svi heat up scoring 15 points off the bench after a slow shooting start.
The game Sunday was better than it could've been with Jackson getting hurt and letting the other teams best two players score at will. We continue to show tons of fight in this early season, which always takes a noticeable jolt when rookie Isaiah "Big Stew" Stewart come into the game. He is in the top 5 of offensive rebounds per game in a measly 18 minutes a game. Our two mid 1st round picks continue to show tons of promise with extended opportunities and there is no reason to believe that this should subside any time soon. Blake Griffin continues to be a massive disappointment, whos trade value continues to plummet. His lack of athleticism was apparent on Tatum's last shot because Blake couldn't even get a hand in his face. The upcoming two game series against the Bucks will show us whether or not we have the temperament to defy odds and get into the playoffs. Two home games and we should get one and be competitive in both. We are the team that is on three games in four night this time though....
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