4/4/25 7:30PM Tigers @ Raptors

[Tigeraholic1]

Scotiabank Arena - Toronto, ON

Watch: FD Det

Pistons 42-34

Raptors 28-48

Looking ahead: Vs Grizzlies 44-32

[buddha]

i'd almost rather play the knicks than the pacers.

[Deleterious]

1 hour ago, buddha said:

i'd almost rather play the knicks than the pacers.

People will laugh.  But Nembhard worries me.

Not saying he is a great defender or even good.  He wont lock Cade down or even contain him.  But he is a bad matchup for Cade.  Quick enough to hang with him on the perimeter.  Big and long enough to body him in the paint.  Teams usually have to pick one or the other when defending Cade.

Plus, nobody wants to play a Carlisle coached team in the playoffs. 

[Betrayer]

3 hours ago, Deleterious said:

People will laugh.  But Nembhard worries me.

Not saying he is a great defender or even good.  He wont lock Cade down or even contain him.  But he is a bad matchup for Cade.  Quick enough to hang with him on the perimeter.  Big and long enough to body him in the paint.  Teams usually have to pick one or the other when defending Cade.

Plus, nobody wants to play a Carlisle coached team in the playoffs. 

Yup.

Nembhard has given Cade fits and Nesmith has been a problem for him as well. Carlisle will take the ball out of Cade's hands with traps, have his team picking up full-court defense, and simply out-strategize JB who's been great for this team's identity but is also pretty predictable. Turner will rain triples on Duren's head all day and Harris can't guard Siakam.

The Pacers are a nightmare matchup and I agree, I'd rather face the Knicks + the refs.

That said, the fights and ejections should be fun.

[Deleterious]

The injury report has Cade as questionable.  I think he has been listed as doubtful, so this is a small improvement.

Harris is listed as out with right heel soreness. 

[Deleterious]

Cancelling FanDuel was so satisfying. 

[Deleterious]

Congrats on the win, Milwaukee.  Nice of Philly to start 5 guys who would never start an NBA game under normal circumstances. 

[buddha]

7 hours ago, Betrayer said:

Yup.

Nembhard has given Cade fits and Nesmith has been a problem for him as well. Carlisle will take the ball out of Cade's hands with traps, have his team picking up full-court defense, and simply out-strategize JB who's been great for this team's identity but is also pretty predictable. Turner will rain triples on Duren's head all day and Harris can't guard Siakam.

The Pacers are a nightmare matchup and I agree, I'd rather face the Knicks + the refs.

That said, the fights and ejections should be fun.

i think every team will double cade and take the ball out of his hands.  they may end up starting shroeder because of that.  or giving him a lot more playing time.  its why losing ivey was so huge.

marcus sasser time!

[NYLion]

17 hours ago, Betrayer said:

Yup.

Nembhard has given Cade fits and Nesmith has been a problem for him as well. Carlisle will take the ball out of Cade's hands with traps, have his team picking up full-court defense, and simply out-strategize JB who's been great for this team's identity but is also pretty predictable. Turner will rain triples on Duren's head all day and Harris can't guard Siakam.

The Pacers are a nightmare matchup and I agree, I'd rather face the Knicks + the refs.

That said, the fights and ejections should be fun.

I'm not worried about the guard matchups, the nightmare matchup is Turner like you mentioned. Duren can't cover him, the guy becomes Jokic when he plays the Pistons. Siakam isn't a good matchup either because the Pistons don't have a true 4. Against the Knicks, KAT is the matchup problem, any big that can step out on the perimeter is a problem for Duren. We all like the progress but until he improves his perimeter defense, it's going to be a problem in a league that is filled with stretch bigs.

Edited 9 hours ago by NYLion

[Betrayer]

6 hours ago, NYLion said:

I'm not worried about the guard matchups, the nightmare matchup is Turner like you mentioned. Duren can't cover him, the guy becomes Jokic when he plays the Pistons. Siakam isn't a good matchup either because the Pistons don't have a true 4. Against the Knicks, KAT is the matchup problem, any big that can step out on the perimeter is a problem for Duren. We all like the progress but until he improves his perimeter defense, it's going to be a problem in a league that is filled with stretch bigs.

Agreed, Duren's perimeter defense is a problem in most matchups. It's not even unique to Duren, traditional Centers have been getting played off the court in the NBA playoffs for a few years now. Even the "best" ones like Gobert. It's part of the reason I'm all for removing the corner three to help bring back the big man.

Against the Knicks there's an easy answer. You flip Stewart and Duren so Stew matches KATs minutes and Duren matches Mitchell Robinson. JB won't do that because he's very regimented with his rotations and he's more of a player's coach that's going to roll with the lineups that got him there. Still, it's the obvious answer to at least finish with Stew on KAT in the 4th even if you're not going to start him.

[buddha]

1 hour ago, Betrayer said:

Agreed, Duren's perimeter defense is a problem in most matchups. It's not even unique to Duren, traditional Centers have been getting played off the court in the NBA playoffs for a few years now. Even the "best" ones like Gobert. It's part of the reason I'm all for removing the corner three to help bring back the big man.

Against the Knicks there's an easy answer. You flip Stewart and Duren so Stew matches KATs minutes and Duren matches Mitchell Robinson. JB won't do that because he's very regimented with his rotations and he's more of a player's coach that's going to roll with the lineups that got him there. Still, it's the obvious answer to at least finish with Stew on KAT in the 4th even if you're not going to start him.

stew should be on kat the whole time.  kat is a pussy and when the going gets tough, stew will remind him and kat will shrivel up like he usually does.