Ausar Thompson has given the Pistons something they did not expect in the last two games: outside jump shots that have actually gone in. The makes have not all been pretty. Many came late in the shot clock, when he seemed to be shooting more out of desperation than design. But the ball has found the net at a decent rate, and that alone has changed the shape of Detroit’s offense in Round 2.
The clearest example came in Game 2, when Thompson got the ball in the final minute after a blocked Daniss Jenkins shot. With only 3 seconds left on the shot clock, he stepped back to the three-point line, then made a sidestep move to avoid an oncoming defender before drilling the three. It was a clean swish, even if the basket came too late to beat the buzzer. One possession later, in a different game, he again showed that the shot is no longer just a possibility on paper.
In Game 3, Thompson took 3 total outside jumpers. He missed two corner threes and made one shot with his foot on the line. That line matters because corner threes have been a pipe dream for Detroit since he was drafted, and now they finally seem close to coming through. For a player known more for defense, cutting and screening than perimeter scoring, that is a real shift.
Detroit needs it. With Jalen Duren’s production dropping in the playoffs, the Pistons are looking for other scoring options, and Thompson’s growth in this area could be vital to team success. He has also had foul trouble throughout the series, which makes every offensive contribution more valuable. Even so, he has kept finding ways to matter, using screens, cuts and a willingness to shoot when defenders sag off him.
That is the tension in Thompson’s series: the jumper is still not a finished product, but it no longer looks like a dead end. He is making an offensive impact in Round 2 by finding creative ways to overcome his usual woes, and the shots are no longer just floating in as accidents at the end of the clock. If the Pistons are going to squeeze more scoring out of this run, the small sample from Ausar Thompson may already be pointing to the answer.
