Grading the Detroit Pistons loss against the Indiana Pacers

101. 100. 97. 64. Final

The Detroit Pistons followed up a brilliant effort against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday with a 101-97 road loss to the Indiana Pacers Tuesday night. It was a close game throughout, but the Pacers were a bit too much for the Pistons to handle. The Pistons shuffled the starting lineup in this one, starting forwards Stanley Johnson and Marcus Morris together and bringing Ersan Ilyasova in off the bench.

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Also of note, Adonis Thomas made his preseason debut after missing the first three games of the preseason with an Achilles injury. Aron Baynes is still sidelined with an ankle injury, although he is projected to debut against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, and Steve Blake is still out with concussion symptoms.

Reggie Bullock followed up his solid performance against the Bucks with a DNP, but it’s possible that head coach Stan Van Gundy plans on giving him big minutes against the Bulls.

As for the guys who played, let’s get to the grades.

PG. Pistons. REGGIE JACKSON. B+. Reggie Jackson turned in a fine performance in this one, aside from his five turnovers in the 27 minutes he played. He scored 17 points on 7-11 shooting, and hit one of his two three-pointers. He grabbed five rebounds and had seven assists, and his +/- was a team-leading +8

B. Caldwell-Pope didn’t shoot much, but he had a pretty effective game in spite of that. He scored eight points on 3-5 shooting, hitting one of his two three-pointers. He recorded five rebounds and two assists, and was +6 on the floor.. SG. Pistons. KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE

SF. Pistons. STANLEY JOHNSON. B. Johnson didn’t shoot well, but he was fairly effective starting alongside Marcus Morris. He recorded 16 points on 5-15 shooting and pulled down six rebounds and had a couple highlight reel plays. Johnson continues to lead the team in minutes, playing 34 minutes in this one.

C-. While Stanley Johnson didn’t have his best game this preseason, Marcus Morris didn’t do much to seperate himself as the favorite to win the starting small forward role. Morris played 18 minutes and scored six points on 2-8 shooting. He added three rebounds, an assist and a block.. PF. Pistons. MARCUS MORRIS

ANDRE DRUMMOND. B+. Andre Drummond had up to this point a fairly mundane preseason, but broke out against the Pacers. He recorded 21 rebounds in his 29 minutes on the floor, and scored 17 points on 8-20 shooting. That shooting percentage is a problem, but those rebounds definitely aren’t.. C. Pistons

Pistons. ERSAN ILYASOVA. C+. Ilyasova came off the bench to allow Marcus Morris and Stanley Johnson to start together, and he turned in maybe his best performance this preseason. Ilyasova scored 17 points on 6-17 shooting, and hit 4-7 from three. He added six rebounds and was -7 on the game.. PF

B-. After being given the night off last game against the Bucks, Meeks played 24 minutes and scored 9 points on 2-4 shooting, including 1-2 from three-point range. He was -10 on the game.. SG. Pistons. JODIE MEEKS

Pistons. SPENCER DINWIDDIE. D. The clock may be ticking louder on Spencer Dinwiddie’s time with the Pistons. He played well against the Bucks on Saturday, but he didn’t have it against the Pacers. He played 20 minutes and scored five points on 1-6 shooting, and turned the ball over four times while recording a -12.. PG

JOEL ANTHONY. C-. Joel Anthony isn’t on this team for his scoring, but this was his second straight game with no points but decent minutes. Against the Pacers, Anthony was 0-2 in 18 minutes, but recorded five rebounds and two blocks. He was -9 on the game.. C. Pistons

ANTHONY TOLLIVER. Inc. Anthony Tolliver played five minutes and was scoreless. He was +3 on the game but had no other counting stats.. PF. Pistons

ADONIS THOMAS. Inc. Adonis Thomas played just nine minutes but it’s possible Van Gundy is just easing him into game action after missing the first three games of the preseason. Thomas had two points on 1-2 shooting, and recorded an assist.. SF. Pistons

Pistons. STAN VAN GUNDY. B-. While Van Gundy probably didn’t deserve all the credit for the Pistons’ improvement between the ugly loss to the Brooklyn Nets and the win over the Bucks last week, he also probably won’t deserve the blame for the regression in the Pistons’ play in this game. After taking good care of the ball against the Bucks, the Pistons had their third 20+ turnover game of the preseason. That largely falls on the point guards, Jackson and Dinwiddie, as they were responsible for nine of the team’s 20 turnovers, but this isn’t a team that can afford to be fast and loose with the ball. Van Gundy knows that, so expect this to be a point driven home hard with the team as the preseason goes on. On the plus side, the Pistons posted improved perimeter defensive numbers, holding the Pacers to just 5-20 shooting from beyond the three point line.. Head Coach

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