Kirk Goldsberry

their rim threatening force has been completely contained and now their threes are are terrible that sounds like a losing formula to me as good as kade can be it's like okay there's nobody who's going to punish them on the edges so they're going to collapse and and and and and really take during out of the series in this pick and roll action that's been their lifeblood all year long um

That seems like a losing formula to me, doesn't it, Zach?

Like, that seems like we're writing an obituary with a couple of clear causes of death.

You can't score from the outside, and your all-NBA center sure as hell didn't look like one against the Orlando Magic.

Yeah, it's not a pretty series at all, in part because both these defenses are very competent.

But I'm going to go back to the stat, I think, that I wish I had said earlier about Durant.

Among the nine Pistons that have taken at least 10 shots in this series, Jalen Duren has the lowest shot quality.

You talk about these nerdy player tracking stats.

All year long, Zach Lowe, he had the best shot quality on the team by far.

Yeah, he dunked in the layups.

He has the lowest shot quality.

And again, I'll give Jamal Mosley, who's gotten roasted, including on the Zach Lowe show and the Bill Simmons show with me, hand up.

They've done a great job here on the interior play of Jalen Duren, getting him away from his happy place and really limiting the offensive efficiency.

And then on your Paolo point, I'm glad you said it.

When he's making shots, he looks like one of the best scorers in the league because he can blend the jump shooting and the rim attack and get into the line effectively.

And he made his threes last night, which was great to see, but I don't expect that to happen going forward in this series.

It's just, we just have too much data that suggests that Paolo's not a great three-point shooter, not a great jump shooter.

So who else in the absence of Franz is gonna score for them?

It's gotta be Bain or Suggs.

Somebody like that's gotta really step up if they're gonna put the series away.