Pistons return to form by blowing a fourth quarter lead over Cavs
By Tim Thielke
| Greg Monroe, PF Shot Chart 35 MIN | 7-13 FG | 2-4 FT | 9 REB | 5 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 16 PTS | -3Monroe was the guy we keep asking him to be early on. He demanded the ball early and often, worked mismatches, and put the team on his back, getting Detroit out to an early 13 point lead. Then he kinda stopped doing that and the Cavs slowly but surely came back and won the game. Also, Thompson beat him for a ton of putbacks down the stretch. |
Josh Smith, SF
40 MIN | 7-15 FG | 3-6 FT | 10 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 4 BLK | 2 TO | 18 PTS | -7
Smith’s play wasn’t always perfect, but he was hustling harder than anybody and didn’t wind up with a bad line. I’ll take it.
Kyle Singler, SF
41 MIN | 2-9 FG | 8-8 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 12 PTS | -3
Singler’s work at the stripe was nice, but his team could have used a couple more of his shots falling. Especially when you acount for the fact that several of his trips to the line had and-1 potential. And his airball from about 10 feet was just ugly.But I can’t complain too much when his counterpart, who is a better player, goes 0-9 for four points.
Andre Drummond, C
35 MIN | 7-13 FG | 2-3 FT | 17 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 16 PTS | +4
Drummond grabbed 10 offensive boards. That’s amazing. Unfortunately, he had a couple boneheaded plays late, most notably his goaltend to give the Cavs a tie with 5 minutes remaining. That ball didn’t look like it was on its way in.
Brandon Jennings, PG
36 MIN | 3-14 FG | 0-2 FT | 4 REB | 5 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 9 PTS | -3
Jennings was laying bricks tonight. And his awful defense was a big part of Thompson’s huge night. Jennings kept letting Irving past, a Piston big would help, Irving would miss the shot (most of his misses were due to the big men, not Jennings), and they’d be out of possession to rebound allowing Tristan to soar in for the put back. Jennings earned as much credit for this loss as anyone.
Jonas Jerebko, PF
13 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | +2
So Jerebko is a legit part of the rotation now? He did well enough in this one, I guess.
Will Bynum, PG
20 MIN | 5-10 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 12 PTS | -3
Bynum’s defense was possibly even worse than Jennings’. But at least he was hitting some of his shots.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, SG
9 MIN | 0-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 0 PTS | 0
KCP is barely playing these days and the level of his play fits that. So it’s a chicken-and-egg question. Is his role diminishing because he is stinking it up, or does he need lots of minutes in order to play well?
Rodney Stuckey, SG
12 MIN | 1-5 FG | 2-2 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 4 PTS | -7
Stuckey comes into the game to score. He shot 1-5 and turned it over three times. If the other PGs weren’t playing poorly in this one, I would believe that Stuckey entering the game was the difference between a win and a loss.
John Loyer
Loyer isn’t magical. Now that we have that cleared up, his coaching looked comparable to the win over the Spurs but seemed less effective. The Pistons got progressively less aggressive as the game went on. Loyer should have found a way to prevent that.