| Greg Monroe, PF 31 MIN | 6-15 FG | 3-6 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 15 PTS | -29Monroe’s offense was underwhelming and his defense brought back memories of last year. His two free throw misses to close out the first quarter were killers. The Pistons were struggling so much to put the ball in the basket and couldn’t afford to waste freebies. | ||
| Josh Smith, SF 19 MIN | 1-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | -15Smith continued to attempt bad shots. This time, they weren’t falling. And he wasn’t contributing in other ways either. Completely unacceptable. | ||
| Andre Drummond, C 29 MIN | 8-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 14 REB | 0 AST | 3 STL | 3 BLK | 0 TO | 16 PTS | +1Drummond was the only good Piston starter in the game. Without him, Detroit probably loses by 30+. | ||
| Brandon Jennings, PG 27 MIN | 5-14 FG | 3-4 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 13 PTS | -31This performance was the epitome of bad Jennings. He was quick to hoist shots, missed a lot more than he made, didn’t get his teammates involved, and had 3 TOs to no steals. | ||
| Chauncey Billups, SG 6 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -12Billups is still technically a starter. but probably not for much longer. His role is rapidly declining. With games like this, it’s no surprise. But Billups’ ineffectiveness is relatively excusable relative to many of his teammates’ because it wasn’t sustained over much time on the floor. | ||
| Tony Mitchell, PF 13 MIN | 1-2 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 3 PTS | -4Mitchell put Lee on the line on two separate occasions when he wasn’t even shooting. And he made a goaltend. His numbers were decent for how much time he spent on the floor but he wasn’t playing smart. | ||
| Jonas Jerebko, PF 9 MIN | 1-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | +1Jerebko only played garbage minutes, but he doesn’t look likely to get much more in most games these days. If he wants to regain a larger role, he has to do better in these limited opportunities. | ||
| Luigi Datome, SF 17 MIN | 4-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 10 PTS | +3Datome was a rare bright spot in this matchup. He shot well, defended adequately, and generally did a good job of being somewhere the ball could get to him. Performances like this should be consistently achievable. If that happens, Datome should team with Singler and maybe Pope to form a solid, reliable corps on the wing. | ||
| Kyle Singler, SF 18 MIN | 1-2 FG | 2-2 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 4 PTS | -5Singler needs to grab a few boards in 18 minutes. He was part of the reason the Warriors creamed the Pistons on the glass. Given how poorly his teammates shot the ball, Singler should have tried to take on a bit more of a scoring role. But his play in this game wasn’t going to move the needle much either way. | ||
| Will Bynum, PG 21 MIN | 4-8 FG | 6-10 FT | 4 REB | 4 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 14 PTS | +13Bynum did exciting Bynum things. He came into the game, brought a ton of energy, didn’t get sloppy, scored efficiently (although not as rapidly as we’ve sometimes seen), and would have given Detroit a shot at a comeback if the hole wasn’t so big. | ||
| Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, SG 24 MIN | 4-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 9 PTS | -1Pope’s shooting left something to be desired, but it looked a lot better than it has in some games. His D was also solid and he got his most minutes of the season. Here’s hoping he has played his way into a bigger role because his upside is a lot better than Singler’s or Jerebko’s. | ||
| Rodney Stuckey, SG 28 MIN | 2-9 FG | 3-3 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 7 PTS | -11I would say that Stuckey’s shockingly good shooting to start the season had made him overconfident, but he’s always been that way. Stuckey, if you have to take a tough shot because the team’s sets got blown up, go for it and I hope it goes in. But they should be a last resort. Today, we saw more typical results to Stuckey’s shooting. | ||
| Maurice Cheeks Cheeks didn’t coach particularly well, but i don’t think he could have manufactured a win here by coaching the best game anyone ever has. Still his grade has to suffer for pulling Drummond with foul trouble, especially in the 2nd quarter. He was easily the best Piston on the floor. Trust him to rein it in a bit. Also, Smith should have gotten some more time. He was awful, but given the desperate situation, he was more likely to play superstar ball and bring the Pistons back into the game than almost anyone else on the roster. |
Three Things We Saw
- The Pistons attempted 17 more shots than the Warriors! And they took more from downtown and got to the line more frequently. They had 12 steals and just 12 TOs, to Golden State’s 5 and 23. It’s really hard to lose when those sorts of numbers happen. To lose by 18? That’s insane.
- Apart from the lack of minutes for Smith, the lineups looked a lot better this game. Lots of time with two of Detroit’s “big three”. Relatively big minutes for Pope and Datome. I want to see how this rotation holds up when they’re not playing an opponent that hits 60% of their shots.
- The Pistons may have only been losing to better teams so far, but this is unacceptable. Worse teams beat better teams regularly. Any given loss is understandable, but the succession of them isn’t. Detroit should probably be winning at least 30% of their games against teams expected to make the playoffs.