| Greg Monroe, PF 34 MIN | 3-8 FG | 1-2 FT | 4 REB | 4 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 7 PTS | -19The Hawks shot 70 percent in the restricted area, according to NBA.com/Stats. That largely falls on Monroe, who a lot of trouble bodying up Paul Millsap (19 points). On offense, Monroe was mostly ineffective. It was not a great game for Monroe. | ||
| Josh Smith, SF 36 MIN | 5-15 FG | 1-2 FT | 6 REB | 2 AST | 3 STL | 2 BLK | 1 TO | 11 PTS | -18In his return to Atlanta, Smith tried to do way too much. He took a lot of unnecessary shots early in the shot clock and missed all his shots outside of the paint, including all four of his 3-point attempts. His saving grace is usually defense, but tonight, he slipped against the Hawks’ frontcourt and let DeMarre Carroll out rebound him 12-6. | ||
| Andre Drummond, C 35 MIN | 5-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 12 REB | 0 AST | 4 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 10 PTS | +1He didn’t shoot very well tonight and regressed with his offensive role. We’ve seen him start to work a little bit from the elbow, but he didn’t do that at all tonight). Still, in a game where with few upsides, Drummond provided two with his rebounding and his steals. | ||
| Brandon Jennings, PG 41 MIN | 9-21 FG | 0-1 FT | 7 REB | 6 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 4 TO | 21 PTS | -16Jennings was very polarizing tonight, to say the least. He was all over the place, but he rebounded well, made 3-of-6 3-pointers and still managed six assists for a team that shot poorly. His biggest flaws were difficulty defending the pick and roll and taking care of the ball. He can’t keep that up. | ||
| Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, SG 23 MIN | 1-9 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | -8Despite his relatively effective defensive performance — probably the best in the Pistons’ backcourt — he was abysmal on offense, to say the least. After getting inside and building confidence in previous games, Caldwell-Pope took six of his nine shots from beyond the arc tonight and missed them all. | ||
| Josh Harrellson, PF 6 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 3 PTS | -3Harrellson played only six minutes. He made a 3-pointer and blocked a shot, but he didn’t play enough for me to give him a real grade out there. | ||
| Luigi Datome, SF 11 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 5 PTS | +12Datome finally logged legitimate minutes, and he looked pretty good. He shot a bit above average from the field (his shot is so pretty) in only four attempts, but the most impressive part about his game tonight were his defensive efforts. He was matched up with Paul Millsap on multiple occasions when Cheeks ran a small lineup, and despite my predictions, he played very well against him. | ||
| Kyle Singler, SF 22 MIN | 2-6 FG | 2-2 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 6 PTS | +3Singler played much differently than usual. He defended well, shot well in the paint and grabbed seven boards. In his 22 minutes played — often as a power forward with Siva, Stuckey, Datome and Drummond — he stepped up. | ||
| Peyton Siva, PG 6 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +11Siva played well in his six minutes played, getting a rebound, assist and two steals, but didn’t shoot once and didn’t make an impact on defense. He didn’t play long enough to get a legitimate grade tonight. | ||
| Rodney Stuckey, SG 26 MIN | 7-12 FG | 3-3 FT | 0 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 5 TO | 18 PTS | -3Stuckey played well tonight. He shut down Korver on defense, scored a very efficient 18 points and knocked down all of his free throws. From an individual standpoint, there is not much more one could have asked out of Stuckey tonight. | ||
| Maurice Cheeks Cheeks ran some really weird lineups tonight. Siva-Stuckey-Singler-Datome-Drummond worked, although it admittedly wasn’t the best lineup to run against this Hawks team. My biggest problem with Cheeks’ coaching tonight was his refusal to try to talk to Josh Smith out of taking 15 shots when he was playing poorly. Oh, he also got thrown out of the game midway through the fourth quarter. |
Three Things We Saw
- The Pistons are not good at closing games. The game was close for a good 41 minutes, and then they fell apart and eventually lost by eight points.
- This team, despite their best efforts, can’t guard the pick and roll at all. It’s such a simple offensive scheme; one would think it’s an easy fix. Mo Cheeks needs to do something about that particular aspect of defense.
- The Pistons shot 23.5 percent on mid-range jumpers tonight. It was probably a combination of Monroe testing his shooting limits and Smith/Jennings chucking early in the shot clock, but nonetheless, it’s an issue.