| Greg Monroe, C 32 MIN | 5-11 FG | 1-2 FT | 7 REB | 7 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 11 PTS | +2He came sneakily close to a triple-double with seven rebounds and seven assists to go with 11 points, but he quietly played a good game. He and Drummond weren’t great on defense, a rusty Joakim Noah and an active Carlos Boozer carved them up, but both teamed well on the boards and within the offense. | |
| Andre Drummond, C 20 MIN | 1-2 FG | 1-2 FT | 10 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 3 PTS | -3He’s still awesome, still über-athletic, but also still a 19-year-old rookie with 56 career games. Foul trouble plagued his minutes more than the minutes limit did, but in those minutes he was a force on the glass. Drummond, Monroe and Jerebko’s play on the boards has been a huge reason for the Pistons’ success the last four games. | |
| Brandon Knight, PG 37 MIN | 7-12 FG | 5-7 FT | 2 REB | 5 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 20 PTS | +10Was there anything better than seeing Knight not only frustrate Nate Robinson defensively, but also take it right at him on offense, too? Tonight was a night where, quite frankly, Knight looked like he knew what he wanted to do on offense. The switch from point guard to shooting guard is mainly a mentality thing, and tonight he had a confident scorer’s mentality — something he struggles with, at times. | |
| Rodney Stuckey, PG 36 MIN | 5-12 FG | 3-3 FT | 2 REB | 5 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 14 PTS | +7Stuckey continued his strong end of season surge, this time in a supplementary role. Last time around in Chicago, he was the Pistons only scoring option for most of the game, but tonight he found a way to facilitate and score while taking a backseat to Knight. | |
| Kyle Singler, SG 21 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | -2Jonas Jerebko’s strong night cut into Singler’s playing time, but when he was out there, he played under control. That’s kind of his thing: even when things go wrong, Singler seems to always keep his composure. It’s nice to see from a rookie. | |
| Jonas Jerebko, PF 27 MIN | 7-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 9 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 17 PTS | +16This is the Jerebko that had people excited during his rookie season. He was efficient, he was active and killed it on the boards. I once had a basketball coach once who said that he loved guys with dirty knees because they weren’t afraid to get on the floor and make a play — that’s the kind of rebounding, effort player Jerebko has, and can, thrive as. | |
| Charlie Villanueva, PF 15 MIN | 5-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 12 PTS | +11:Cue fans viciously slandering Charlie V and the Pistons because he played well in a Pistons win, ruining the team’s attempt to tank for a top-4 pick that may or may not be any better than a top-6 pick: | |
| Khris Middleton, SF 33 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 10 PTS | +19This guy may be better than we thought. It took him ¾ of the season — and Lawrence Frank’s extended leave — to work his way into the rotation, but he’s been surprisingly solid since. In his last handful of games, he’s been good for eight points and three boards on 13-for-21 shooting. Everyone loves Kim English, but Khris Middleton is the one you should love to see on the floor. | |
| Viacheslav Kravtsov, C 1 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +1“Good job, good effort!” | |
| Will Bynum, PG 17 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-1 FT | 2 REB | 5 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 4 PTS | +8There are two vastly different forms of Will Bynum, Good Will and Bad Will. Good Will, the one who scores from a variety of angles and throws a million successful alley-oops, is one of the most entertaining players in the NBA. Bad Will, shoots way too much and turns it over more than he makes a shot, is one of the least. Tonight, you got a bit of both. | |
| Kim English, SG 1 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +1“I AM THE HUMAN VICTORY CIGAR! SEE YA LATER LOSING STREAK TO THE BULLS,” said Kim English, I think. | |
| Lawrence FrankThe Pistons offense was clicking without Jose Calderon and part of that is a credit to Frank. He still has to find a way to get Brandon Knight more comfortable moving without the ball, but he rode the bench in the second quarter to some success and appeared to have Monroe working to get the ball to cutters — which led to his seven assists. It’s been a rough year from Frank, but in the last five games, he’s really done a solid job. | |
