Three quick observations from Friday night’s 122-113 loss to the Sacramento Kings at Little Caesars Arena
THIRD QUARTER BLUES – Over the season’s first 30 games, 31 after Friday’s loss that unraveled after a promising first half, it’s easy to pinpoint the biggest disappointment: The injury to Cade Cunningham that ended the season for the 2021 No. 1 pick after only 12 games. We’ll give you three positives to counterbalance that news: (1) Isaiah Stewart continues to make Dwane Casey look good for the bold decision to move him to power forward, a position he’d never played before, to allow for lineups with two big men; (2) Killian Hayes, after a decidedly underwhelming first month, has gotten his career firmly on track and is playing with a confidence 180 degrees from what he exhibited just six weeks ago; (3) rookies Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren, who provided a highlight-reel lob dunk hookup in Friday’s first half, look like absolute wins for Troy Weaver and the Pistons. Sometimes, all those positives overlap and the Pistons look on track to make a leap forward. Then there are the times – like the start of Friday’s third quarter, a quarter that saw Sacramento score 38 points and hit 6 of 11 triples – when almost nothing meshes as designed, an enduring trait of young teams that are often undermined by bad four- or five-minute stretches. Sacramento used a 17-2 run in the first three minutes of the third quarter to turn an eight-point halftime deficit into a nine-point lead as turnovers, transition defense and shot selection intersected to hasten the turnaround. The Kings pushed their lead to 12 before Dwane Casey’s bench cut it to seven entering the fourth quarter and to three early in the fourth and again a few minutes later. But the Kings pushed it back to double digits by the midway point of the quarter and didn’t allow the Pistons another surge. Cunningham’s surgery to address his left shin injury, performed Friday, was successfully done, the Pistons announced.
KNOX SURGING – Just as Dwane Casey spoke earlier this week of Cade Cunningham’s absence providing an opportunity for Killian Hayes and Jaden Ivey to be used as primary playmakers for all the possessions where Cunningham would have filled that role, so is Isaiah Livers’ continued absence – the Pistons announced Friday he’ll be re-evaluated in two to three weeks after reaggravating the AC joint in his right shoulder which has sidelined him since Dec. 1 – an opportunity for Kevin Knox to gain a foothold in the rotation. Knox first benefitted from the chance to play created by injuries in mid-November, though Knox has a curious home-road split so far this season. His best work has come away from Little Caesars Arena. Knox has averaged more than twice as many points on the road (7.6 to 3.0) and shot it significantly better, hitting 43.4 percent from three on the road to only 25 percent at home. Knox had one of his better home games and an especially active outing against the Kings even if he didn’t score a ton of points.. He finished with seven points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, hitting 3 of 5 shots and his only 3-point attempt, in 16 minutes.
MASTER CRAFTSMAN – If it seems like Alec Burks shoots an inordinate number of free throws, that’s because he does. Burks leads the Pistons in free-throw rate at .449, meaning he takes nearly 45 free throws for every 100 shot attempts. He shoots 10.2 free throws per 100 possessions, well ahead of Bojan Bogdanovic, second on the team at 7.7. In Friday’s first half, Burks was rewarded with five free throws before taking his first recorded shot. Burks finished with seven points in 24 minutes in one of his quieter games of late, taking only four shots. “He has a craftiness with his game,” Dwane Casey said of the 13-year veteran. “And they’re legit fouls. He initiates the contact. Guys usually reach in late and he finds the arm, which is legit fouls; they’re not flops. He’s been a big, important part of our pick-and-roll game, our scoring game. And he’s an excellent passer, so if they do blitz he’s ready to make the play.” He’s incredibly savvy with getting defenders on his hip and timing his ascent to release a shot at the perfect time. Burks is averaging 14.3 points in 21 minutes a game for the Pistons.