Ben DuBose

It's something that KD and Shingun, for all of their skills, that's not really their game.

That's something you need a smaller, shiftier guy.

And even a man might be a little too loose with his handle right now to pull that off, and also defenders will sag off a little bit in one-on-one until he expands the range beyond 15 feet.

But...

I think for Reed to take advantage of this opportunity, that's massive.

And I also think the fact that defensively, look, this game was scary early in the fourth quarter when the Pistons cut it from 14-4 like two minutes in.

But they closed out the game with Reed Shepard and Auburn and Shingun, and the Pistons didn't go off.

I mean...

You know, they missed some threes.

I guess you can point to that.

But I think for this coaching staff, the fear is if you have both Reed Shepard and Alperin Shingun on the floor in super high leverage minutes.

And this is more a reflection of Shingun's recent form.

I think he was better defensively at the start of this season.

I think it's gotten worse for whatever reason the last few weeks.

But I think with Shingun in the form that he's been in of late defensively,

And Reid, as young and undersized as he is, the fear from the coaching staff is, can we get away with having both of these guys on the floor in super high leverage possessions where the other team is giving it everything they have with their best players?

Is it just going to be too many players to hunt?

Tonight, they held up.

It's not, you know, some massive sample.

It's not conclusive, but it's the second best team in the NBA on record.