The Pistons had a real shot to play against Phoenix at home. Because the Suns deprived of Bradley Beal and Devin Booker are much less formidable, the start of the season proves it, and with a little more discipline, both offensively and defensively, Detroit could have achieved a great victory.
The eleven lost balls from Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren didn’t help, but it was especially the inaccuracies in defense that annoyed Monty Williams, who was challenging his former team for the first time.
“ When we don’t know the instructions to follow on Kevin Durant, it’s problematic”regrets the coach for Michigan Live. “I have to bring in players who will do what we asked whether we win or lose. We have to play harder than in this match and be more determined. »
In any case, the first minutes of the meeting were very good. Durant certainly managed to score, as always, but he didn’t have it easy. It was over the minutes that the defense disintegrated, leaving too much space for penetrations.
Does the coach have a particular player in mind? Maybe Marvin Bagley III, whose stint was not unforgettable. The interior is sharp on offense, but not on defense, where he is nowhere near as intimidating as Duren and often lags behind. He made fouls on Jusuf Nurkic and against Durant, in one-on-one, he was either too far away, almost letting him shoot, or too close, making more mistakes…
Monty Williams calls for consistency
In the third quarter, there will again be communication problems on screens, which will give the Suns open shots. “There’s no way Eric Gordon can come in and overwhelm us, or be open in the wing like that. We need to know where he is.”continues Monty Williams.
While they have a powerful racket, the Pistons lost the rebounding battle (43-33) against Phoenix. This match is therefore a snapshot of the difficulties and the potential of the Pistons. There is good and bad.
“We understand how difficult it is to win in this league and how consistent you have to be,” analyzes the coach, who is looking for the right balance with his young players. “We show interesting things in sequences, but not over time. We have to work on that. »
As he did not target anyone directly, Monty Williams is demanding a collective reaction from his players. The latter are frustrated at having missed a great opportunity to stop their series of defeats (four currently).
“It’s disappointing to hear that from the coach because everything he tells us is gold”says Isaiah Stewart. ” It’s the truth. We didn’t play our best basketball, except in short sequences. We have to do it every minute of every match. We can’t play our best basketball for a few minutes and then stop. We clearly need to do better. »
