WHAT HAPPENED

Jaden Ivey shined, but the team faltered late in the Detroit Pistons hard fought loss to the Sacramento Kings 137-129. The way they lost leaves a sour taste. The Pistons have dropped several games this year where they were leading in the fourth quarter. Turnovers, defensive breakdowns and learning what to do in late game situations cost them this game as well.

They received balanced scoring from the bench and starters led by Jaden Ivey’s 24 points and four rebounds. He also hit all four his three pointers while looking nothing like a rookie. Bojan Bogdanovic had 21 points while rookie Jalen Duren scored 12 to go with a team high eight rebounds.

The Kings relied on their experience to pull out the win late. De’Aaron Fox and Kevin Hueter scored 33 and 24 points respectively, while propelling the Kings offense in the fourth.

The most glaring issue the Pistons had beyond the late game miscues was defense. Coach Dwane Casey stated earlier in the season, they’re still learning how to play the defensive schemes. It doesn’t help that they are a young team, which Casey also said “isn’t an excuse”.

JADEN IVEY OUT SHINES KEEGAN MURRAY

Is Jaden Ivey the best rookie? With each game that passes, Ivey makes a greater case.

It’s no longer a question on if he was the correct pick at 5, and the Sacramento Kings fans have to be wondering how Ivey would look in purple.

Leading up to the NBA draft it was accepted that the Kings Keegan Murray was the more “ready” prospect. Murray’s all around skillset and ability to shoot from the outside was too attractive to pass on.

But there’s a term that could best describe what some NBA teams missed. Jeff Iafrate of the Morning Woodward Show coined a term on the Woodward Pistons Podcast: “What was a player asked to do?”.

Was Ivey asked to be an all-around player? Was he asked to play make, or shoot? These were two areas of concern many had with Ivey as a prospect, because he didn’t have many opportunities to show these skills at Purdue.

He’s quickly proving people wrong. Ivey is already averaging just about what Cade Cunningham did his rookie season.

And more recently, in Jaden Ivey’s last five games he’s averaged 18.4 points, five assists and four rebounds. Just shy of the illustrious 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, a plateau generally achieved by the NBA’s better players overall. Rookie or veteran.

To put things in perspective Keegan Murray, the player chosen before Jaden Ivey, is averaging twelve points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Though the book is far from written on either of these two good, young talented players, it’s clear to see that Ivey is trending to be the better player.