Ron Holland II gave the Pistons exactly the kind of burst they needed in their 110-94 win over the Brooklyn Nets to open NBA Cup play, and he did it with a performance that looked a lot bigger than a season-high 18 points.
Holland’s scoring punch came off the bench, where he delivered 12 of his points in the third quarter and helped Detroit turn a competitive game into a comfortable one at Barclays Center. The third period was the stretch where he broke things open, and once he got his first field goal, the rhythm followed.
That mattered because Holland had been fighting through a rough start to the season. Before the Brooklyn game, he had been open about the fact that the early going had not gone his way, with just 28.6% shooting from the field and six missed three-pointers in Detroit’s first five games. Against the Nets, he kept pushing through the slow start instead of letting it snowball.
“I don’t let one, two, three games define me,” Holland said.
“It’s a long season, different basketball, different ways I’m being guarded. I’m here to work, continue to get better and continue to grow with this team, grow as a player, grow as a man.
I like where I’m at. I’ve got a long way to go and a lot of work to do, and I’m excited about it.”
Even with the scoring outburst, Holland’s night was about more than offense. In J.B. Bickerstaff’s system, his edge still shows up most clearly on defense, where he brings energy and disruption every time he checks in.
That showed up in the box score too. Holland finished with a game-high four steals and a block in 22 minutes, repeatedly bothering Brooklyn’s backcourt and giving Detroit another layer of pressure on that end of the floor. He also posted a plus-minus of +14, the best among the Pistons’ reserves, while leading the second unit in scoring.
Detroit’s 5-1 start, its best opening stretch since the 2015-16 season, has given Holland a chance to carve out a bigger role, and games like this only strengthen that case. His teammates noticed the lift he provided, especially from the bench.
“I think you saw the reaction from the group on the bench, how much we all love seeing it,” Duncan Robinson said.
“He earned it. Sometimes in this league you do all the right things and it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to come together. He’s had some really positive stretches that we’ve seen and it came into fruition into today.
“We expect a lot more of that. We all know the kid, the player that he is and what he’s capable of. When he plays with confidence, he’s a different player.”
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