After getting a much-needed win against the Bucks, what can be learned from any changes that the Pistons made? Could this be the start of something or just a blip on the way down?

Let’s start with Blake Griffin‘s defense. You’ve highlighted that a bunch in the last several games.

Hard to say. He was much better in general on defense but he largely got to avoid the thing that has been giving him such problems. Griffin’s woes have come in trying to cover shooters, whether by not closing out after a kick-out or not sticking with them in the first place. He spent basically no time in this game guarding any real threat to shoot threes, so it would definitely be premature and even foolish to take anything in that department from this game.

So then where did he look so much more comfortable?

The Pistons ran a much more conservative defensive scheme in this game. They basically looked at the lack of shooting the Bucks generally put on the floor and decided to defend them the same way teams have defended them. They went way under every screen, made simple switches when practical, and generally dared the Bucks to beat them with jump-shots. People have made quite a bit of noise about the Pistons’ defensive scheme being overly aggressive, and they dialed it back in a big way.

Most games this year those plays are calling for Andre Drummond to come out and trap the ball-handler. This was consistent throughout the game with a few exceptions where Drummond was unleashed.

They also regularly passed off Giannis Antetokounmpo on switches between Drummond and Griffin while staying way off him.

Also, notice in that play how much more comfortable Griffin looks when he gets to hang back in a pick and roll instead of having to attack.

As far as Griffin specifically is concerned, there is not a ton to glean from this game. He was not nearly as big a problem but that’s because he was never really tested, he mostly sagged way off Giannis Antetokounmpo who was hesitant to take jumpers and never tried too hard to force the issue. Griffin was largely untested on defense in this game due to the defensive scheme.

Maybe they should keep that scheme?

I don’t know for sure about that. The Pistons defense had been good all season before the trade, and a lot of the issues can be traced to Griffin just being on the learning curve. I wouldn’t mind them letting Griffin hang back more, for now, he’s learning plenty of stuff right now so let him stay a bit more in his comfort zone for now.

I would be pretty disappointed if they put much leash on Andre Drummond though. He’s such a terror attacking ball-handlers that I hope they give him free reign to do whatever he wants. Also, this scheme works less smoothly against teams that put more shooting on the floor than the Bucks did.

What about on offense?

Well first off, the Bucks could not stick with Reggie Bullock cutting to the hoop.

I especially love the above one because you can see Stan Van Gundy nonchalantly point Bullock to the corner at the start, where Bullock sits totally unthreateningly until suddenly jetting to the hoop.

That was not all of the times Bullock got the Bucks either. He repeatedly got open right at the hoop.

He also did a few good things with the ball in his hands to show why it is that, even if the results are not always pretty, it is an option worth exploring especially until Reggie Jackson returns.

Those are both nice plays that are not easy to execute. I’m still mostly of the opinion at this point that he doesn’t have quite enough confidence in his handle and quick pull-up jumpers to be effective in any sort of volume with the ball in his hands, but maybe he can make enough good plays right now to make it worthwhile.

Was the bench awesome, right?

Very awesome. I’m actually going to use them as a microcosm of why I’m in favor of letting Stan Van Gundy coach next year. Returning to a bench mob that has been together for a bit and knows what they are doing, they ran offense brilliantly and played hard on defense. And remember that this is with Stanley Johnson and four undrafted guys.

Look at that beautiful motion. Everyone on the floor is moving, they move flawlessly from action to action, and then Eric Moreland‘s activity gets a second chance. Those guys ran an offense like that almost every single possession, but because you people keep telling me that Stan Van Gundy is an incompetent who can’t install an offense I’m not going to let you take my word for it.

Look at those possessions! Everyone moves, no one is stationary. This is the real reason why it was a mistake to play Jameer Nelson and why Van Gundy went back to Moreland. While it is true that against better, and less tired, defense it stalls sometimes. But Nelson didn’t know what he was doing, and Griffin is still learning the ropes which shorted out the machine.

This motion offense thing only really works when everyone is moving together in sync. Going back to the guys who’ve been around at least a few months and have already played together quite a bit got them back working. They don’t screw around after a rebound, all five guys hustle up the floor and they get right into their offense and make the opponent defend for the entire shot clock.

Notice how even when things break down bad guys don’t stop moving.

Even though they ended with a really bad shot, it would be foolish to expect Moreland to convert that very often, guys don’t stop moving.

They bring that same relentless energy to the defensive end of the floor too, watch Buycks follow Jason Terry here:

With Griffin and the starters, you can see the outlining of the same motion and flow, but everything is a little bit more forced, a little bit more clunky. But you can see it coming along.

Take this set here too:

See how Ish Smith takes an extra beat to give Griffin the ball and set the screen? That is the sort of thing that tips the offense between working and not. And when they nail it, they look great:

Before moving Ennis into the starting lineup, Griffin was the only new guy. Why couldn’t they make due?

Well, part of it is that Griffin has been problematic there in a big way. I’ve mentioned it before, but he has just been too stationary too often. There are just too many plays where he doesn’t move at all, he just kind of stands in place somewhere and watches guys do stuff. When he gets moving and throws his weight around a bit things start to look a lot better. Griffin has preferred to take things slow in order to try and avoid mistakes, but I’d prefer him to just go full speed and make mistakes like that.

The other thing is that the lack of spacing in the previous starting lineup has a way of choking off any good actions. Hopefully with Ennis put into the starting lineup they have the requisite spacing to start making things work when they do run things well.

Another thing with Griffin, please stop doing this:

Look at where he catches that ball. He has some space to make a move to the basket, but instead, he backs up and jacks a three. I get the thought process I suppose, if you are going to take a jumper may as well make it worth an extra point in case you hit it. But that is too much, no one is scared of Griffin’s jumper even when he is hitting them at a better rate, at least keep the threat of a drive and take the mid-range there. If he stays put and at least threatens a drive then plays like this can possibly open up:

Take some threes, whatever, but don’t blatantly surrender any chance of a drive to back into them.

Any little things?

Andre Drummond kind of punked Jabari Parker so that was fun. The Bucks ran a play to get Parker a switch two times in a row, which was one time too many:

Drummond also had some other great defensive efforts, check this out:

He hustles back to stay ahead, traps a pick and roll, then hustles back to stop a drive. All against one of the NBA’s premier players. Drummond isn’t quite ready to get any defensive player of the year hype, but if he does it will be plays like this that are the reason. That’s awesome.

Also, it is known that the Bucks lack the needed size inside to really contain Andre Drummond, it looks to me like it must suck to play against Drummond when you lack that size.

First, he levels Jabari Parker with a screen and then wields his rear end as a weapon to box Henson so far out that Drummond literally doesn’t need to jump or even raise his arms to get the offensive rebound since he is in such superior position.

Reggie Bullock hitting shots like this are why people around the league are starting to take notice of him:

Anything just fun?

Stanley Johnson. I love how whenever someone posts him up he takes it as a personal affront to his pride.

He also got out into transition a couple of times.

So what’s the final verdict?

Well, everything should be taken with a slight grain of salt. If it looks like the Pistons were a step faster all night that’s because they probably were. The Bucks were not rested, but it is worth mentioning that the Pistons are not exactly thriving in rest at the moment either, but still. I like the change of bench mob, having Dwight Buycks, Johnson, and Moreland on the floor makes for a chippy group that plays angry every second and I like that. I’ll wait until tonight’s game to judge if Griffin has turned a corner defensively or not.