NBA Matchups: January 1

ORL @ DET | CHI @ WAS | NOP @ MIA | UTA @ NYK | BKN @ TOR | DAL @ HOU | ATL @ DEN | PHI @ SAC

Orlando Magic at Detroit Pistons

Team Totals: Magic 105.5, Pistons 106.5

Injury Report: Anthony Black (Q, back), Jalen Suggs (P, wrist), Cade Cunningham (P, knee), Simone Fontecchio (O, personal)

Magic projected starters: Jalen Suggs, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Tristan da Silva, Wendell Carter Jr., Goga Bitadze

Pistons projected starters: Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Tim Hardaway Jr., Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren

Mosley quotes: Said the coaching staff does a great job keeping bench guys ready to play, said TdS “has so much poise out there”, said TdS is “tough as nails”, said Suggs will be evaluated and was in the locker room after the game (wrist).

Bickerstaff quotes: Said the Nuggets made them pay with some of their sets, said the guys had some growth on the road trip, said Holland can find gaps and put pressure on the rim.

Stats and Notes: 

*The Magic continue to find ways to win with their third-ranked defense. They allow the fewest C&S possessions and the fewest rim possessions to make it extremely hard to get the easy stuff. They also allow the second-lowest ORB% against. The Magic do give up the 11th-highest PNR handler points in the league, so it’s really going to come down to the guards for the Pistons. The Pistons are playing their best offense in years with four straight strong performances in a row. They’re taking care of the ball and their scoring has been there in this span. For the Pistons on defense, they haven’t been able to limit teams as much as earlier this season. They’re down to just 29th in defense over the last month. They’re actually keeping teams in the halfcourt a ton and aren’t giving up O boards, either. The Pistons are starting to give it up to PNR handlers more these days, as they’re at sixth most on the year, and they’re giving up the eighth-most C&S points. Their rim defense has still held up this year as they really pack the paint, so this game is all about the perimeter shooting.

*Jalen Suggs’ right wrist issue is certainly a concern. He was grabbing at it over the weekend and did not return. He hurt his left wrist last year, and this is the first time he’s been on the injury report for his right one. This matchup is about as good as it gets with the Pistons giving it up to lead guards. Suggs was starting to pick up more PNR handler scoring in the two games before his injury, and his minutes should pick up due to a lack of shot creation on this team. Still, the shooting-wrist issues do add a layer of unknown risk.

*Tristan da Silva continues to get a bigger role on offense, and he just had a big 21-point game against the Nets. It was heavy spot-up stuff for da Silva, which is a good thing against this Detroit defense. His minutes should be extremely strong regardless of lineup, but obviously there’s not too much ceiling on him.

*Goga Bitadze’s matchup isn’t all that great with the Pistons hitting the boards and being an OK rim defense. He should block a decent amount of shots, but overall this isn’t ideal for him.

*Cade Cunningham should be in a huge spot here. The Magic just take everything else away and Cade isn’t a big transition scorer anyway. Cade’s role is about as elite as it gets as a top-five driver in his last 10. Cade’s been passing with the best of them at 18.8 potential assists per game in his last 10 (only Trae better), but the Magic should really take that way.

*Besides Cade, it’s pretty ugly for the rest of the Pistons. Maybe Jaden Ivey can get it going as an on-ball guy, but the transition aspect likely won’t be there for him. He still has a better matchup than Jalen Duren, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Tobias Harris.

Great matchups: Jalen Suggs, Cade Cunningham

Good matchups: Tristan da Silva

Bad matchups: Jalen Duren, Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr.

Chicago Bulls at Washington Wizards