Pistons forward Ausar Thompson was a key reason that Detroit picked up a win last night
During the Pistons’ tight 110-102 win on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers last night, perhaps no player had a tougher task than Detroit’s Ausar Thompson.
From a defensive perspective, Thompson has consistently graded out as one of the top perimeter defenders in the NBA this season, so he was responsible for managing the output of Portland forward Deni Avdija. The last time the Pistons and Blazers squared off three weeks ago, Avdija had a steady diet of dribble-drives and dropped a 30-piece in the process, so Detroit was planning to shut down his productivity at the point of attack on Monday night.
But before that strategy could take full effect, Avdija began to access the part of the playbook he’s become most familiar with this season– drawing the foul. Avdija is quick to dart towards the lane, and that often draws contact that sends the crafty scorer to the line. This was the same recipe that Avdija used to draw three fouls on Thompson in the first four minutes of the game.
“I got the three early fouls and I was sitting on the bench and I was like, you just can’t let it get to you,” Thompson said after the game. “I’m going to come out and I said I’m going to lock up on defense without fouling, then I ended up getting a lot of rebounds and I just found my flow in the game even though it was last and I just stuck with it.
Thanks to my teammates, they stuck their arm around me and were like keep your head, so I was like alright, cool.”
From there, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff pulled Thompson from the lineup, though he reentered the game later in the first half but with a more cautious approach. Thompson initiated offense and ran the break as he’s known to do, but his list of duties grew even larger late in the game when Detroit point guard Cade Cunningham fouled out.
At that point, the Pistons were doing everything they could to hold onto a 97-91 lead when Cunningham was bounced from the game. But without Cade, the Pistons used Thompson as a point forward who brought the ball up the court and ran plays in the half court as well. Even without the Pistons’ All-Star point guard in the game, Detroit leaned on its potential All-Defensive forward as Thompson helped guide the squad to a tough eight-point victory on the road. Thompson logged 18 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and three steals in his most impactful game of the season, and it came when the Pistons needed it the most with Cunningham out of commission down the stretch.
Perhaps most impressive was Thompson’s ability to continue guarding Avdija throughout the game without dipping too far into foul trouble himself. Avdija continued to drive the lane in hopes of drawing a foul, but at one point in the second half the whistle stopped going in his direction and a bit more contact was allowed at the point of attack, which benefited the Detroit swingman.
“I think he picked up on the discipline and how the whistle was being blown, and he did a much better job of not using his hands and just beating guys to spots,” Bickerstaff said. “I mean, he's a phenomenal talent, and there's not a lot out there that he can't do. I think what he's learning is teams want to put their five on him, and he's learning how to make them pay.”
Thompson is one of the most dynamic players in the NBA, and his versatility was a huge reason why the Pistons were able to pull out a tough win away from home on Monday night. However, the Pistons will need another big effort tonight as the team travels to Sacramento for a 10 pm tip-off against the Sacramento Kings in the next extension of the West coast road trip.
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