OKC Thunder: 3 keys to beating the Detroit Pistons
Rookie point guard showdown:
The timing of this match coincides with the return of rookie Killian Hayes to the Pistons lineup. Hayes played eight games prior to a hip injury which led to him missing the next 41 games.
In his return, he came off the bench but it will be interesting to see if Theo Maledon and Hayes end up facing each other today.
In his nine games, he’s averaging 4.0 points, 1.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and shooting 23.8 percent from deep. In contrast, Maledon has appeared in 43 games, 27 as a starter, and is averaging 9.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 0.9 steals, and shooting 37.0 percent from deep.
Hayes was the seventh overall draft choice while Maledon fell to the second round and was the 34th selection overall.
Although injury impacted Hayes season and rookies take time to develop I wonder if the Pistons had it to do over if they would’ve considered Maledon over Hayes!
Recovering from bad losses:
Like the Thunder, the Pistons were routed in their last game. Detroit registered their largest win margin of the season on Thursday versus the Wizards (120-91). They hit the other end of the spectrum on Saturday registering their worst loss margin against the Knicks (81-125).
For teams who are actively trying to lose games in order to garner a top draft selection (ideally the first pick) these losses will occur. But, being competitive is important and no player, team, or franchise wants to make a habit of losing by 20 or more points.
Detroit has lost 13 of their last 17 games while OKC has lost 10 of their last 16 matches. The other factor working against the Pistons is they don’t perform well on the road with only five wins in 25 road games.
Limiting the OKC Thunder former stars?
It sure didn’t take long for Hamidou Diallo to make his mark in Detroit. Granted he’s only appeared in four matches but he’s already the second-highest scorer on the club with 14.5 points per game.
The player who’ll require the greatest attention from Mark Daigneault’s charges is former Thunder forward Jerami Grant.
After a stellar showing in the Disney bubble and strong postseason performance Grant elected to join the Pistons. He’s become the primary focus with Detroit and is proving to have much more in his repertoire than many suspected. Grant is averaging 22.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.1 blocks. The point and assist tallies are career-bests.
He is experiencing regression in other areas like efficiency which is part and parcel of becoming the number one scoring option and therefore drawing more attention.