It’s funny, I kept saying “I hope they bounce back against Brooklyn” to promote my own selfish interests in that I’m attending that game (my 9th of the season). I didn’t realize they played against Miami tonight. I wish I could have claimed it was a multi-week joke but I’m truly not that clever.

Anyway.

I’d like to be mad about the result but I really can’t be. The coaching performance in Detroit’s 118 - 110 against Miami tonight was among the best of the season. The rotations were basically perfect, and Detroit didn’t shoot themselves too much in the foot offensively or defensively. The reasons they lost tonight were purely performance-based, not basketball terrorism from Monty, and not really that much refball that benefitted the other team.

Cade Cunningham had a 23 point night on 8/20 shooting, much better in the first half before Miami adjusted and limited him to mostly difficult shots and 3-pointers, which he continues to hit at above 40%, going 5/12 tonight from deep. Great highlights were him dunking on Nikola Jokic early in the game. Miami’s crowd was not as enthused as I was.

Jalen Duren didn’t miss from the field, going 5/5 and making 4/4 FTAs, good for 13 points. Unfortunately for Duren, he was playing against NBA All-Star frequenter Bam Adebayo, who was held to only 6 points in the first half, but finished the night with 18 and the eyeballs test tells me that he outplayed Duren handily.

Duncan Robinson and Caleb Martin made the shots when they counted, going a combined 7/15 from 3PT, with the former sending Ausar Thompson spinning for an easy Miami layup along the baseline during the first half. Butler also had a quiet first half, but got hotter as the game went on, ultimately earning 11/26 points from FTs.

Simone Fontecchio should be playing at least 30 minutes per game, and he should be getting those minutes as a starter over Isaiah Stewart. Fontecchio contributes offensively and defensively (not to say that Stewart doesn’t), but does it in a way that would provide more spacing in leu of physicality that only Stewart could give. Fontecchio was 5/12 from 3 and 7/16 overall for 22 points.

One particularly consequential sequence or sequences came from home-grown guard Jaden Ivey (did you know his mom was a WNBA champion and currently coaches for Notre Dame????). While he got off to a decent start in the first half - clocking 11pts - Ivey didn’t score again until the 4th quarter. Ivey was in total 6/15 from the field, missing all 5 of his 3PAs. The play that really killed Detroit’s chance at a win tonight came in the final 3 minutes of the game.

Detroit was down to single digits (I’m not going to go into the exact specifics of anything if you can’t tell by now). With a lane open for Ivey to drive and at the very least get a foul and shoot FTs, he instead aimed to pass out, bobbled and lost the ball on a costly turnover which was converted into a dagger 3 by Miami. That 5 point swing was the game.

If Ivey can’t get out of his skid, it may be beneficial to place him on the bench as a 6th man in favor of another of our guards in the starting 5. Since the All-Star break, Ivey has been shooting 17.1% on 3, and just 35% overall. Those numbers won’t be sustainable and will not help the starting 5’s offense run effectively. Who do you put there? Fuck if I know.

Like I said. I don’t think I can be mad at this loss. I’d much rather they won the game, but the level of competitiveness was extremely positive to see after the last game against Orlando.

Let’s hope they can do something against BKN. I didn’t proofread any of this.