The Detroit Pistons completed a nine-point comeback against the Orlando Magic with Ausar Thompson leading the defensive charge
Entering halftime with a seven-point deficit on the road in Orlando, the Detroit Pistons needed a decisive spark in the second half last night to mount a comeback over a Magic squad battling to stay in the play-in range.
While the Pistons were crashing the glass early on and generating extra possessions the old fashioned way, Detroit’s shot was generally off the mark in the first half, particularly from long-range. The Pistons missed their first 15 three-pointers of the game, so the squad was in dire need of a catalyst when Ausar Thompson began causing havoc on defense in the third quarter.
Thompson, who finished the game with nine points, 11 rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals, took it upon himself to blow up as many Orlando possessions as he could. Before long, Thompson helped Detroit jump back in the lead with a 31-18 advantage in the third quarter alone, and the Pistons kept that edge for the remainder of the game, eventually walking away with a 106-92 win.
“I thought the biggest guy who gave the impact in that third quarter was AT,” Tobias Harris said after the game. “He was everywhere flying for us– getting blocks, rebounds, pushing in transition. That got our energy up and going and we were able to convert in transition and obviously just played a great second half and stayed solid all the way through.”
Now, Harris was a key contributor in the Pistons’ double-digit victory as well, especially during the first half when the veteran’s reliable mid-range game helped Detroit sustain some otherwise bleak offensive stretches.
As for Thompson, part of what makes the third-year defensive ace so difficult for offenses to counter is the speed at which he makes plays. Thompson rapidly darts into passing lanes to clog otherwise open alleys, flashes his hands at the last-second to pick pockets and meshes his length with a spring-loaded leaping ability to swat errant shots that enter his orbit.
On Sunday night, Thompson put together another compelling reel of game tape as to why he should be a member of the NBA’s All-Defensive first team this season when the end-of-year awards are distributed.
“You have to account for how he creates that chaos and extra opportunities for our team– the deflections, the steals, the blocks, the rebounds,” Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He is great, you know, we talk about Tobias offensive being a run-starter, and that’s what [Thompson] is defensively for us. He can stop a run on his own. He can create a run on his own on that end of the floor because of his ability to just make uncanny play after play after play. Obviously, he was in foul trouble early, but that’s the best part about it is he didn’t let that slow him down. He didn’t hang his head because he was in foul trouble. He found a way to come back in that second half and be impactful, and he changed that game for us in the third quarter.”
Another part of what makes Thompson so special is how ambitious he is on defense and how he takes pride in what often makes up more than 50% of his responsibility on any given night. Thompson regularly guards the opposing team’s primary ball handler at the point of attack when he’s on the court, and that’s an exhaustive defensive workload that Ausar wears like a badge of honor.
Now, Thompson only logged 21 minutes in the Pistons' double-digit victory over Orlando, and that's perhaps the most staggering aspect of his performance. Thompson was able to accumulate five stocks overall, essentially averaging a steal or a block every four minutes he was on the floor. With a more robust offering of playing time, Thompson could feasibly approach the 10-stock range sooner rather than later.
And along those same lines, Thompson has earned the right to be considered for his first All-Defensive first team once the regular season wraps up.
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