Detroit Pistons94Final

Recap | Box Score95Chicago Bulls

Greg Monroe, C 32 MIN | 7-12 FG | 4-6 FT | 10 REB | 4 AST | 2 STL | 2 BLK | 4 TO | 18 PTS | +8Monroe had a productive all-around game and was pretty sound defensively. It helped that Joakim Noah was out, but Carlos Boozer and Taj Gibson routinely brutalize the Pistons’ frontcourt and both were quiet tonight.
Andre Drummond, C 23 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-3 FT | 14 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | +11When Drummond is on the court, the Pistons are at least competitive with the middle-tier teams in the league. Tonight, they built leads every time Drummond was in the game, including into double figures in the first half. When Drummond left the game, those leads evaporated quickly. Drummond’s had better statistical performances in his young career, and he did pick up three fairly quickly first half fouls that caused an early exit, but he was a game-changer for all 23 of his minutes. I do have to mark him down slightly for this though. Ouch.
Jose Calderon, PG 34 MIN | 4-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 0 REB | 5 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 11 PTS | 0Calderon didn’t rack up a large number of assists (Drummond cost him one by botching a perfect lob that should’ve been a dunk, although Drummond did get his own rebound and convert), but he ran Detroit’s offense perfectly. Calderon does a lot of things well offensively, but I love watching him watch for the right moment to hit players coming off of curls to quickly catch and launch. He does it perfectly nearly every time.
Brandon Knight, PG 37 MIN | 2-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 4 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 4 TO | 5 PTS | +6Credit where it’s due for Knight — after re-injuring his ankle and breaking his nose in Friday’s game, he came back two days later and played 37 minutes. Unfortunately, they were pretty unproductive minutes.
Kyle Singler, SG 27 MIN | 3-4 FG | 1-1 FT | 6 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 8 PTS | -2Singler, once again, was remarkably average. He hit open shots, he helped on the glass and he was overmatched trying to guard Chicago’s quicker wings. As has been written relentlessly this season, Singler was a great find for the Pistons in the second round who will be a valuable rotation player once he’s playing in the right role in that rotation. Starting and playing big minutes at the two or three isn’t the right role at this point, but he’s doing an admirable job competing at that spot.
Jonas Jerebko, PF 18 MIN | 2-3 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 5 PTS | -11After Jerebko was one of very few bright spots on Friday, it was disappointing to not see him get more minutes tonight. But I’ve long ago given up on trying to figure out how minutes are distributed/justified on this team.
Charlie Villanueva, PF 24 MIN | 4-13 FG | 4-4 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 2 TO | 14 PTS | -10It was nice to see Villanueva playing aggressively and looking to drive when Chicago was closing hard on him when he caught at the 3-point line. His shots were falling and he had a few tough misses on floaters that were good looks that he’d normally hit.
Khris Middleton, SF 6 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +1Middleton played a few forgettable minutes and is still struggling to find the confidence and aggressiveness he had for a handful of games a few weeks ago.
Rodney Stuckey, PG 29 MIN | 10-19 FG | 3-4 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 25 PTS | -8And the Stuckey madness continues. Before the comments start harping on this — yes, Stuckey had the ball in his hands more tonight. But no, he was not exclusively used in a scoring point guard type role. He actually was finding success as an off-the-ball wing playing with Calderon, something his defenders firmly say is all Lawrence Franks’ fault for asking him to do in the first place. Stuckey can be successful working off of screens, not dribbling the air out of the ball and working at times as a catch and shoot player in the mid-range. He just doesn’t do it all the time, which makes the times that he plays has well and as tough (he took a shot to the head that had him blinking an eye most of the game) as he did tonight all the more frustrating.
Kim English, SG 12 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 0 PTS | 0Twelve minutes is decent burn for English, but he looked a little tentative. He did manage to help out on the glass, but didn’t attempt a three. I’d still love to see him flash a little acumen for that corner three by the end of the season.
Lawrence FrankI’m not sure how much Frank planned to play Drummond, but the fact that he couldn’t use him more in the first half was Drummond’s fault for getting into foul trouble, not Frank’s, so I’m willing to give a pass for that. I think the Pistons could’ve used Jerebko more and I thought 37 minutes were way too many for Knight considering both his health and the fact that he wasn’t playing well.
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