Rookie Jaden Ivey left a lasting impression Saturday night despite the Detroit Pistons 117-108 loss to Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics.

Are we sure Ivey is a rookie?

Without Cade Cunningham and Alec Burks available, the rookie stepped up with a big game. He played like a vet, and sounded like one after the game, too. He wasn’t satisfied despite an impressive stat line. The team lost and that is all that matters to Ivey.

Ivey scored 26 points in a variety of ways including 6-for-6 free throws and four made threes. But he wasn’t as impressed as everyone else.

“I feel like I played very bad at the end of the game with turnovers,” he said. “I feel like I could’ve taken over the game… It’s very frustrating coming in my rookie year with the amount of losses that we have. But we made strides.”

Jaden Ivey may be disappointed, but with averages of 15 points, five rebounds and four assists per game as a rookie. He may be the only one.

The Jayson Tatum and Friends Show

Head coach Dwane Casey stated, “everyone in the league knows we’re a rebuilding team”, but didn’t excuse the team’s defensive effort.

He was understanding of Celtics star Jayson Tatum’s 43 point, 10 rebound double-double on “tough looks”, while less approving of the role players like Grant Williams and Marcus Smart had with Jaylen Brown (left knee contusion) side lined.

Aided by improved defense and three-point shooting in the second half, the Celtics staved off every Piston run. It didn’t help that Jayson Tatum showed up to show out on Woodward Ave. He routinely blew kisses at the crowd, shot after increasingly tougher shot.

“That’s what great players do” Casey said. “What you can’t do is let other role players have big nights. You try to make it difficult on him, which I thought we did. But we can’t let the role players beat us.”

It seemed the game plan might have acknowledged Tatum would get his points, but to keep everybody else in check.

That didn’t go too well as Grant Williams and Marcus Smart combined to make seven threes and flustered the Pistons defense with tough play all night.

Other Notable Stat Lines

Bojan Bogdanovic (Pistons) 28 Points | 6 Rebounds | 4 Assists

Grant Williams (Celtics) 19 Points | 10 Rebounds | 3-6 Three Pointers

Marcus Smart (Celtics) 18 Points | 10 Assists | 4-10 Three Pointers

Hot or Cold Trends

HOT Killian Hayes continued his good play of recent on both ends of the court. He filled the stat sheet with 15 points, six rebounds and seven assists.

COLD Jalen Duren only played eight minutes until he was subbed in with a minute left in the third quarter.

HOT It’s safe to call Jalen Duren the team’s best rebounder. As he continues to take strides his rookie year, it will be more and more difficult to keep him out of the starting lineup. Or, at least playing 25-30 mpg.

COLD The Detroit Pistons offense didn’t seem to take many off ball cuts to the basket on offense. It stagnates the offense and clogs the driving lanes for ball handlers like Jaden Ivey.

HOT Coach Casey made good on his promise to play two big men lineups, which is something many spectators have wanted to see. He hopes this will alleviate some pressure off Bojan Bogdanovic who’s playing undersized at the power-forward position.

Quote of the Night

“Size and rebounding. The other team knows that they’re there. Spacing has to get better. But defensively, the rim protection and rebounding.” – Dwane Casey on positives of being able to play 2 bigs for the first time.