NYLion

This game illustrates the difference between a star and a very good player. The team with the star won the game and series. JB is going to have to answer for why he took out Ausar, that cost the Pistons 5 points.

Exactly, 5 points for Brunson immediately after Ausar gets subbed out. Inexplicable decision

JB taking Ausar out with 3 minutes left for....reasons?

I'm baffled by the way JB has handled Ausar's minutes in this series. Brunson loves it though

Beasley picked a good time to get his 3 point shot back. Need Cade to be more aggressive in the second half, like Brunson has been.

He was great in the 4th. He and Ausar making me look like a dumbass for calling them out for their 4th quarter deficiencies.

An inexperienced and injured Pistons team without their 2nd best scorer and best defensive player, along with Ausar.

Ausar was a monster in this game, made me eat my words and the vets came through again. Cade woke up in the second half. Knicks needed like 3 Hail Mary threes, just like in Game 4, just to stay close late in the 4th. This was the Pistons game. Knicks now are bruised and battered, this could go 7.

Sure but how are those numbers in the 4th quarter? You don't see many transition opportunities in crunch time, it's a lot of ISO ball and pass to shooters. Who is Cade and Schroder passing to if, say, Ausar is there in place of THJ? Harris and ??? ?you need some shooters in there. Just seeing these options, it's a miracle that the Pistons not only made the playoffs comfortably but have also pushed a healthy Knicks team to the limit. There's a real talent deficiency with this group, especially with Ivey out, they've been carried by simply playing harder than the opposition and defense.

He's not even a backup. They brought in Bridgewater for the playoffs because they didn't trust Hooker as backup. It's a miss, the Lions aren't getting the dividends on Hooker unless Goff gets injured long term and Hooker gets them some wins. Holmes first two 3rd round picks were McNeil and Joseph for emphasis. I can even get the Martin trade in a sense because there's some upside for him to be a starter if he panned out, Hooker was never going to be a starter here.

I don't lump Sorsdal in with the other guys, he was a 5th round pick which have like a .0000001% chance of being an= regular NFL player. The Martin swing baffled me at the time but that was only mid to low round picks so not much loss. Manu was a gamble because they traded away the future 3rd (that was recouped with the Glenn comp) then used both of his comps plus their own 3rd next year for Teslaa. Those are the big risks, Manu and Teslaa so....we'll see. If they hit on Manu, they have their bookend tackles for the next half decade at least once Decker is done which is massive so very high reward on that risk. Teslaa? I don't know, unless he's a Jamo replacement in a few years I'm not sure it's worth the risk. We'll see.... I think the Lions are in a position with a stacked roster that they can take some swings with quality over quantity. They already got their plug and play guys early in the last two drafts so the homerun swings are understandable. I'd also add the Hooker pick into the miss pile. Odd move with very little upside for a team that already had its franchise QB. Could have traded a 5th or 6th for a development QB if they wanted one so bad.

Ausar is unplayable in the offensive end in crunch time. You can't have 3 on 5 on offense in clutch situations with Duren being the other unplayable guy. It's why I'm struggling to see both as part of a contending core going forward.

I don't even know why they need to admit it afterwards, just makes them look worse. "Owning it" after the fact doesn't change anything. With that said, it was a bad non-call but par for the course with the way the game was called so to say one thing in favor of the reffing, at least they were consistent in letting the teams play so the final play was just a continuation of the way the game was called. Bad non-call yes but consistent with the style of reffing in the game which favored the Pistons btw who need to muck it up to have a chance.

He was largely non-existent with scoring in the clutch again and turned the ball over a lot again. Plenty to criticize him about. We're talking about a high bar here, a superstar bar. Brunson was, again, big in the clutch while Cade wasn't. He's young, he'll learn to take over when the team needs him in the future hopefully but he doesn't have that in him right now.

That's stupid. Just because the Pistons blew the lead that doesn't make it any less of a bad call.

So many thoughts going through my head now. Brunson outplaying Cade in the clutch AGAIN, hopefully that's just an experience thing because Cade is getting his lunch handed to him in clutch moments. If this is the Cade we're getting in future playoffs in clutch moments, it's not good enough. How many Hail Mary shots did the Knicks hit in the 4th? At least two by KAT and one by Bridges that go in like one out of ten times usually. Ridiculous THJ got fouled, flat out. Media won't talk about it much because it didn't happen to a Knick but the Pistons got robbed there without a doubt in my mind.

If he adequately replaces Jamo then this is a justifiable trade, anything less and it's poor value IMO. I mean, if he's another Tim Patrick level guy, that's just not good enough for what they gave up.

Alim McNeil and Kerby Joseph were his first two 3rd round picks. Why this man doesn't want to cook with more picks is beyond me. I get that they have an overcrowded roster but these are long term picks in the mid to late rounds, draft a bunch of guys and you're bound to find a diamond or two in the rough the way this regime drafts and if you do give up that much draft capital you better be sure this prospect is not only going to be a starter but an impact starter. Quite a leap of faith for a player that's going to be a #3WR at best for the next one or two years.

Baffling trade up for Teslaa unless he's a long term Jamo replacement. Swapping two 3rds for two 6ths to move up 30 spots into the late 2nd round is a hefty price to pay for a long term #3 WR if he's not being pegged as a long term replacement. Even the trade up for the Ratledge seems like a slight overpay but that's a pick that makes way more sense and fills a big long term, and likely short term depending on what one thinks of Glasgow, need. Like the picks to build up the trenches but there's still a sizeable need at EDGE which doesn't appear will be filled unless Za'Darius is coming back. IF Davenport can merely give them a half seasons worth of play the way he played last season that would be a big help but, lets be honest, he's not even going to make it out of Training Camp without injury.

Cade is a very good player, star player even, but it's hard to elevate him to superstar status until he starts to take over in big games. He's kind of shrunk in the big moments in this playoff series and the Knicks have owned the 4th quarters as a result. He can't be passive with this team, he needs to be THE guy when they need him and he hasn't done that in this series. Also, Beasley has been terrible. For anybody who was previously worried about losing him because he'd cost too much. Well, worry no more.

No chance, same with Pearce which is why I find it odd that Atlanta gave up a huge haul to jump presumably the Lions to get him.

Pretty underwhelmed by the Williams pick, not a fan of taking run stuffers that high even if he has the potential to be a bit more than that. Also, considering the absolute haul teams were getting for trade downs all night, I'm a bit disappointed that the Lions couldn't execute one. Just have to trust Holmes on this one. I do like that it was a trenches pick, Williams and McNeil could be a fun duo to watch going forward.

True but this schedule is certainly tougher. They play all of The Final 4 from last years playoffs on the road all of whom that are considered Super Bowl contenders again this season depending on what one thinks of Washington, the Rams, Bengals who should be much better one would think and of course the brutal NFC North which it's hard to imagine that they'd sweep on the road again. Brutal schedule. I could see them going 5-4 or 4-5 on the road. The home schedule is way easier and they're going to likely need to sweep it to compete for the division title. I have a lot of faith in the team but that's a gauntlet of a schedule.

Holmes history dictates that the Lions aren't standing pat and I lean towards trade up over trade down.

Jamo is as good as gone in a year or two IMO and out of the Gibbs, Branch, LaPorta and Campbell quartet, I could see LaPorta being the odd man out. One or two of these guys are getting moved or just let go, we should come to terms with that. Just keep drafting well and the Lions will be fine. My biggest concern is that they had two golden opportunities the last two seasons to win a Superbowl or at least get there. Up 24-7 against the Niners in the NFCG and 15-2 last year while they had cap flexibility with a bunch of key players on rookie deal. This is Year 3 of the Superbowl window IMO and the last year with cap flexibility depending on how they stagger the new contracts so the clock is ticking because the cap crunch is coming and the Lions are going to have to pay the piper eventually. Teams that don't have elite of the elite QBs have relatively brief SB windows, the Lions need to cash in on that the next few years (this year in particular) because it's only going to get tougher. Looking at the schedule this year? Yikes, the Lions are going to have to REALLY earn it this year. It has to be one of the toughest schedules in the league. There will be no 15-2 this year.