Pistons lose three straight with a 101-96 loss against the short handed Clippers
77. Final. 96. 64. 101
The Clippers rallied from a double digit deficit behind a combined 71 points from Blake Griffin (34) and Jamal Crawford (37). Andre Drummond was enormous on the boards once again for the Pistons finishing with 19 to go along with 18 points but shot just 6/14 from the line.
The Pistons scored 60 Points in the first half but were held to just 36 in the second. Crawford almost single handedly kept the Clippers in it when the Detroit shot out to an early lead behind red hot shooting from behind the arc. It didn’t matter if there was a hand in his face, Crawford continued to hit jumper after jumper to ensure the deficit remained manageable.
It felt like the Pistons had control of most of the game until a buzzer beating jumper from Crawford to end the third gave the Clippers their first lead since the first minute of the game.
The Pistons will be disappointed to not walk away from this one with a win as the Clippers were without both Chris Paul and J.J Redick and allowed a 35 year old Jamal Crawford to score 37 points.
B. Was on track for a very solid A when going in for half time. His stat sheet looks great, 20 Points, 5 Assists and 6 Rebounds, but two key turnovers in the fourth quarter in a one possession game proved costly. PG. Pistons. REGGIE JACKSON
C-. While providing decent defense against Crawford, managing to ensure a majority of his looks were contested, he still got lit up on the defensive end. There wasn’t anyone able to stop Crawford in this one. On offense he should be credited for getting inside when his three point shot wasn’t dropping. SG. Pistons. KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE
Pistons. STANLEY JOHNSON. C. Was a key member of the bench unit that help push the Pistons to an early lead. Johnson was called for some soft fouls committing 4 in 21 minutes. He did manage to shoot 50% from the field. . SF
MARCUS MORRIS. C-. Could not get anything going on offense, one of his only two shots to find the bottom of the net was a very difficult contested jumper late in the clock. He performed quite well on defense keeping the opposition small forwards in check most of the night. SF. Pistons
Pistons. ANDRE DRUMMOND. A-. Another dominant performance from Drummond on the glass, he is rebounding at an amazing rate this season and was able to chip in with 18 Points. It seemed early on that he had the back to the basket jump-hook worked out pretty well. Shot 42% from the line which is better than his average however missed key free throws when the Clippers decided to Hack a Dre which allowed them to cut into the Pistons lead at the time. C
Pistons. ARON BAYNES. C+. Performed well on both ends of the court in just 14 minutes. Came into the game when Stan Van Gundy decided to sit Drummond during Hack a Dre, a nice option to have on the bench when teams decide to go down that route.. C
Struggled when defending Blake Griffin but no one was able to slow him down when given the assignment. Scored 5 points in 18 minutes off the bench . PF. Pistons. ANTHONY TOLLIVER. C
A. This was as good of a game as you can expect the Pistons to see from Ilyasova. Didn’t hesitate when shooting the three ball early and when the Clippers tried closing he took it to the basket an got to the free throw line 9 times, hitting 7 of them. Continues to draw a significant number of offensive fouls while on defense, two in this game.. PF. Pistons. ERSAN ILYASOVA
Pistons. STEVE BLAKE. C. It can be hard to grade someone that has been as poor as Blake to begin the season. The expectations really start to decrease so when he doesn’t have a shocker it can be hard not to overate his performance. He did turn the ball over twice in 14 minutes but was running the point during a key run in the second quarter that enabled the Pistons to shoot out to an early lead. PG
C-. The one major issue I had with Stan during this game is when the Clippers opted to Hack a Dre, SVG decided against doing so in retaliation even though DeAndre Jordan is shooting just 35% from the line this season. I also feel like the coach needs to take some of the responsibility for not finding suitable adjustments to help slow Griffin and Crawford. . Head Coach. Pistons. STAN VAN GUNDY