Pistons get destroyed in the second half, continue embarrassing run of losses

Recap | Box Score84Detroit Pistons

Josh Smith, SF

35 MIN | 6-17 FG | 1-2 FT | 9 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 0 TO | 13 PTS | -18

On offense, Smith took lots of stupid shots. On defense, he got burned outside the paint. Inside the paint, he’d do a decent job until failing to ever box anyone out and got beat for tons of second chances.

Andre Drummond, C

36 MIN | 6-10 FG | 3-8 FT | 14 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 2 BLK | 1 TO | 15 PTS | -2

Memphis played Drummond smart. They tied him up whenever he tried to make a post move. Meanwhile, Drummond did not play smart, getting into foul trouble (again), resulting in Cheeks stupidly yanking him early (again).

Drummond was pretty much the only good thing Detroit had going, he can’t lose it like that, especially with the technical he picked up on his way off the court.

Brandon Jennings, PG

35 MIN | 2-14 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 11 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 4 PTS | -14

All those assists look nice, but shooting 14% is unacceptable.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, SG

27 MIN | 6-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 14 PTS | -9

KCP isn’t good enough for his performance to usually swing a game either way, but he gave Detroit all they could ask for in this one.

Josh Harrellson, PF

6 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -17

Harrelson can’t seem to get many minutes of late. If that were because of smart big man staggering by Cheeks, I’d be pleased. Unfortunately, it’s probably because his D has been pretty weak since November.

Jonas Jerebko, PF

12 MIN | 1-2 FG | 1-1 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 3 PTS | -13

Jerabko probably only saw the floor because of Singler’s foul trouble. He did what he was supposed to. No more, no less.

Kyle Singler, SF

14 MIN | 2-3 FG | 2-4 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 7 PTS | -18

Singler was somehow on pace for more than 17 PFs per 48 minutes in this one. Normally, I don’t care how much bench players foul, but that was kinda crazy.

Will Bynum, PG

21 MIN | 3-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 4 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 7 PTS | -17

Bynum was the best Pistons PG in this game. He set an astonishingly low bar that nobody could beat.

Luigi Datome, SF

5 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -3

Datome only played meaningless garbage miutes.

Chauncey Billups, SG

14 MIN | 1-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 2 PTS | -21

“Mr. Big Turnover” is washed up. The Pistons need Stuckey back.

Maurice Cheeks

The Pistons got off to a good start as the Grizzlies tried to bring the ball inside and the Detroit bigs shut them down.

But it couldn’t last and switching to a zone certainly didn’t help. Neither did pulling Drummond (or Singler). Why are coaches so worried about their players fouling out. The worst that can happen is that they come out of the game. And that’s what happens when you pull them out preemptively, anyway.