DETROIT — Playoff sequence are sometimes like chess matches, with each coaches attempting to fight or modify to what the opposite is doing.
One resolution by Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff has shortly uncovered a Knicks weak point to date.
Bickerstaff has opted to have heart Jalen Duren guard Josh Hart on protection moderately than Karl-Anthony Cities.
In flip, he’s had Tobias Harris, a wing listed at 6-foot-8, guard Cities.
That has allowed Duren to camp within the paint and defend the rim or act as a floating assist defender, typically doubling Jalen Brunson and Cities after they have the ball.
“When they do that, it’s different,” Brunson mentioned. “It doesn’t matter who’s on who. We’ve simply obtained to assault what we see is a bonus for us.
“We have the utmost trust in everyone on this team. It doesn’t matter the situations people are put in. We’re gonna sit there, we’re gonna have each other’s back and we’re gonna go forward. We’re gonna win together, we’re gonna lose together, and we’re gonna learn together.”
Duren is routinely leaving Hart, the Knicks’ worst 3-point shooter amongst starters (he shot 33 p.c from deep within the common season), extensive open on the perimeter, and he’s but to make him pay for it and even respect his exterior capturing.
He’s really 2-for-3 from deep within the sequence, which is tied 1-1 heading to Detroit, however it has not been sufficient to make the Pistons change their technique.
Within the 4 regular-season matchups between the 2 groups, the Pistons largely had Duren guard Cities, and Cities’ 3-point prowess meant Duren needed to come out and defend him on the perimeter, which consequently opened up more room within the lane and isn’t his power.
Cities went 7-for-16 from 3-point vary in these 4 matchups — a mean of 4 makes an attempt per sport. However the faster Harris has been higher at limiting Cities’ 3-point capturing, and Cities has taken simply 5 complete throughout the 2 video games — solely making one.
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Cities, who has 4 inches and 22 kilos on Harris, ought to conversely be capable to bully Harris within the paint.
He’s had success when he will get inside — he’s made 10-of-12 photographs when he’s lower than eight toes from the basket, per NBA.com’s monitoring stats, which suggests he wants extra touches within the publish.
However his capturing capability is what actually makes him most respected and a matchup nightmare, and he’s to date not been utilized as such.
“I let the defense tell me [what to do],” Cities mentioned. “Obviously, I’m always trying to get involved as much as possible. Whether it’s post up, I feel like I’ve worked tremendously hard on my game to have an outside-inside game, I think I’ve proven that to the world year in and year out. Just being aggressive, getting to spots I can do what I do best.”
Coach Tom Thibodeau might counter by giving McBride, who shot 36.9 p.c from 3-point vary within the common season, extra minutes with the starters rather than Hart.
The Pistons seemingly wouldn’t be capable to get away with Duren on McBride as a result of his capturing capability.
And the Knicks’ 4 non-Hart starters had simply 160 possessions with McBride within the common season, per Cleansing the Glass, however outscored opponents by 43.7 factors per 100 possessions.
to the Pistons. Getty Pictures
However that may additionally harm the Knicks within the rebounding division, the place they’ve struggled.
The Pistons have grabbed 15 extra rebounds than the Knicks throughout the 2 video games.
So, it’s a difficult resolution.
The Pistons technique can be not distinctive. A number of groups had wings guard Cities through the common season with their facilities on Hart — in an effort to cease Cities’ capturing whereas exposing Hart’s — with combined outcomes.
“We’ve seen that all year, so it’s not anything new,” Thibodeau mentioned. “Game 1 [we scored] 123 points. So we have to take each game, each game is different. What do you learn from the game? And then move it forward.”
