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.
The starting line up came into the game with a -10 point differential. We’ve been saved by our bench unit (Burks and Ivey) in our two wins so far. The OKC game was what happens when you really think Killian and Ausar can occupy two spots in the starting lineup.
Or maybe the defensive starting lineup kept us within striking distance going toe to toe against a starting lineup with three previous All-Stars, then Burks and company can then overwhelm the other team’s bench.
Did you look at any of the data before making this post?
What you’re claiming simply isn’t true. The starting lineup has been an absolute disaster so far, and it has been so comically bad on offense that it would need to be the best defense in the entire post-handchecking era in order to break even.
And it hasn’t even been a good defensive lineup in the first place. Statistically speaking, it’s been no better than league average.