With the Pistons getting off to a strong 4-1 start, all eyes have been on Blake Griffin‘s impressive performance as the team’s leader. As A. Sherrod Blakely writes for NBC Sports Boston, Griffin has reinvented his game to evolve with the modern NBA. Al Horford believes that Griffin has been playing like a MVP candidate so far with his ability to handle the ball, score in the post and create opportunities for others.
Griffin is averaging 28.4 points, 10 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game so far, knocking down 3 3-pointers per game. Most notably, Griffin dropped 50 points (including the game winning and-one layup) on the 76ers.
Blakely details just how impressed Horford is with Griffin’s start — the Celtics’ big man observed that Griffin seems more comfortable in his role now that he has had time to settle in with the team and city.
For the Pistons, they are hoping that a revitalized Griffin, better health for Reggie Jackson and a new coach in Dwane Casey will be enough to get the team back to the playoffs. So far, the results are promising as the Pistons look to build on their strong start and the MVP performances from Griffin.
There’s more from the Central division:
- The Pistons have gone about building their roster in unique fashion with two big men leading the way. Rod Beard writes for The Detroit News that Celtics coach Brad Stevens recognizes and appreciates what Dwane Casey has done to successfully compliment and ride Griffin and Andre Drummond to early season success.
- With the Cavaliers firing head coach Tyronn Lue, Marc Stein reveals for The New York Times that the team may also look to rest Kevin Love for an extended period in order to let him recover from recurring foot soreness. Love missed three preseason games with the injury and has struggled to play through it during the early stages of the regular season.
Looks like the Cavs don’t need to worry about losing their draft pick this season.
Love should be rested until his foot fluid recedes.
—
Griffin looks unstoppable. The Pistons are aggressive and have the talent. They are not tight as a team and have weak defensive technique, but they can beat anyone and if healthy at playoff time… look out
So where’s the credit for the GM that assembled that Detroit team? They fire him and praise the roster and don’t even mention his name.
But you don’t mention that the previous “GM” was also the coach that lead that roster to overwhelming losing season the past few years