Pistons continue to slide; Jazz, Kings, or Celtics might be able to catch them yet

Monroe played a solid game. His defense did little to slow Griffin. But few players are slowing Blake down lately.

Josh Smith, SF

34 MIN | 6-16 FG | 0-1 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 2 BLK | 4 TO | 12 PTS | -14

Smith jacked a bunch of bad shots and mostly missed. And he wasn’t doing much else for Detroit. His perimeter defense was ok, but he made up for that by failing miserably on defending the paint in this one.

Kyle Singler, SF

19 MIN | 2-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 6 PTS | -6

It’s good to see Singler getting relatively few minutes. At this point in the season, minutes are precious; they can be used to evaluate prospects. unfortunately, KCP and Datome aren’t getting his minutes, Jerebko is.

Andre Drummond, C

38 MIN | 8-12 FG | 0-0 FT | 12 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 16 PTS | -13

Drummond is a beast. He really deserves to be on a better team. Hopefully he will be soon and that better team will still be the Pistons.

Brandon Jennings, PG

32 MIN | 5-16 FG | 5-7 FT | 7 REB | 7 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 19 PTS | -24

Jennings wasn’t perfect, but at least he contributed in this one. He was hitting threes and grabbing boards at much better rates than his norm. However, he also allowed Paul to have a huge night–even by his own lofty standards.

Jonas Jerebko, PF

27 MIN | 8-12 FG | 1-4 FT | 9 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 22 PTS | +8

I don’t even care about the terrible free throw shooting. This was probably Jerebko’s best game of his career (hitting 5 threes gives it the edge over his game against the Bobcats on Jan 13, 2012). His final line was arguably better than Griffin’s. And Griffin had a good game.

Will Bynum, PG

24 MIN | 2-7 FG | 1-1 FT | 2 REB | 10 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 6 PTS | +8

Like Jennings, Bynum played well in several ways tonight. Like Jennings, defense and shooting weren’t among those ways.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, SG

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

Caldwell-Pope’s per-36 stats tonight were 36 points, 9 boards, 9 dimes, and 9 steals with 0 turnovers. Not that he would have put up that line even if he’s played 48 minutes, but Kentavious should really be seeing the floor a bit more.

Rodney Stuckey, SG

27 MIN | 3-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 6 PTS | +5

I’m amazed that Stuckey was able to play for 27 minutes and only end 11 possessions with a shot, assist, turnover, or trip to the line.

John Loyer

Loyer, I’d like to introduce you to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Luigi Datome, and Tony Mitchell. Those are three prospects who might be worth having int he rotation next season. But how are we supposed to know when you glue them to the pine? I do not approve f the work you’re doing.