There A lot of reactions to the OKC Thunder loss, suggesting lineup changes, bringing in more shooters, banishing Killian, playing Ivey or Burks as a starter. There may be merit in these suggestions, but these do not really address the primary reason why we lost to the Thunder last game.
Let’s look at the offense. In the OKC game, we made ten more assists than the Thunder (31 vs 21). We also shot better from three not just in percentages but in actual makes (15/28 vs 13/29). And despite so many turnovers from Cade, we matched the Thunder in points off turnovers. Our main problem offensively is 2P%, but that’s not really the biggest issue as the total points we scored is only second to the points we scored in the home opener.
The problem was on the defensive side of the ball. This game is the first time this season that a team scored more than 105 pts on us (103, 99, 102 vs this game’s 124 by OKC). This is the first game this season that we let a team score more than 30 in a quarter for three quarters after we only allowed that in one quarter for the last three games. We were beat in defensive rebounds by ten (28 vs 38). We gave up six more fouls, resulting to four more FTAs. And this is the first time this season that an opponent shot above 50% from the 2P area against us (41.43%, 43%, 43.07% vs 57.4% by OKC!).
Sure, let us change Killian from the starting lineup as he is shooting poorly and Cade could be better served playing with shooters. But is that addressing the primary issues that arose from the game? Let us not be oblivious to what the data is telling us, which is that we lost the Thunder game because for the first time this season, we did not play good defense. For me, what should be addressed by the coaching staff is our defensive schemes when the opponent has stretch bigs like Chet and Jalen Williams which took away Duren and Stew’s defensive impact. They missed their rotations, especially Duren who is used to rim protecting, which led to four very open threes by Chet. Incidentally, the winning margin is 12 points.
Relax. We actually only lost in the first quarter. The Pistons matched the Thunder the rest of the way. We just need to adjust better defensively.
I think Monty once said that what they want to avoid is Cade taking on more defensive load since he is already leading the offense. If he is partnered with a defensive liability, then he would be spending more effort on defense, which can also hinder his development.
You realize this also precludes Bojan.
These narratives are all spun around one thing: justifying why Ivey isn’t starting. Somehow, in the span of three weeks, Ivey not starting has become an article of faith among some. It must be explained and defended at all costs.
But the same rationale precludes starting Bojan - more so, I’d argue. He’s every bit as weak a defender and probably even weaker, and he’s not a threat to create for anyone else.
First, Ivey actually has a worse DBPM than Bojan last season. If defensive metrics is not your thing, then we can say that Bojan’s offensive prowess for now is greater than Ivey, so you could hope that his offense could mitigate his defensive shortcomings more than Ivey can for now. Third, he at keast has more size than Ivey, so he can be moved to the three while Ausar can move to the 2.