Detroit Pistons Play Grizzlies Tough In Close Loss

Detroit Pistons-88, Memphis Grizzlies-95

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope-F

Another tough night shooting for KCP, but at least he adjusted by getting to the rim more often than usual. Unfortunately in his four shots at the rim he only converted one of them and got blocked on another try. I thought he actually got fouled the other two times he got the the rim, but unfortunately for the Pistons and KCP, he never seems to get the foul calls when he’s aggressive. If I’m SVG I’m going to give the officiating crew a pretty difficult time the next instance that KCP drives and gets hacked without a foul call.

For the first time this season KCP didn’t play a minute in the fourth and despite the fact that I think the Pistons need to give him every opportunity to grow, it was definitely the right call by SVG.

Andre Drummond- C

Drummond had a better night offensively, but still missed some point blank shots. He also had another one of those nights where he gets his minutes limited, because he can’t stay out of foul trouble.

Don’t give up on him though. As hard as it may be to watch sometimes his talent is obvious and you can see that he just hasn’t played enough basketball to get it figured out.

Josh Smith-C

That’s two quality games from Smith in a row. I’m impressed with how well he’s shooting from the outside, but I’m still going to cringe every time he shoots a jump shot.

I like his all-around game when his jump shot is falling, but I’m more impressed with him when he plays solid defense, rebounds, and sets his teammates up for easy scores.

His late game technical probably sealed the loss tonight giving the Grizzlies a 10-point lead and his emotions clearly effected his play from that point on.

Greg Monroe-B+

Monroe was an absolute beast against one of the toughest big men in the NBA. Neither Zach Randolph nor Marc Gasol could guard him one on one as he scored 16-points and 11-rebounds.

He’s by far the Pistons best player through 10 games.

Brandon Jennings-C+

Made just his second and third field goals late in the third quarter, but most of that can be attributed to the Grizzlies’ stout defense and excellent help on dribble drives. I liked that he stayed aggressive and confident throughout the game, because there are going to be nights like this when points are hard to come by.

He’s obviously earned SVG’s trust, because he usurped Agustin for playing time in the fourth two games in a row.

D.J. Augustin-B

Augustin outplayed Jennings tonight (although the box score will say differently), but this type of game fit Augustin’s style a little better than it does Jennings. Augustin is excellent at getting to the rim, getting to the free throw line, and setting up his teammates with his uncanny ability to get to the rim, wheres Jennings’ game is predicated more on speed and finesse.

Augustin finished the night with 7-points on 3/10 shooting with and five-assists.

Caron Butler-C

“C” stands for average and that was exactly what Caron was tonight. In 27 minutes he had 4-points and 4-rebounds.

Kyle Singler- A+

Singler gave the Pistons a spark when they went on a run at the end of the first half goin 3/4 for 11 points. He’d finish with 21-points on eight shots including a perfect 6/6 from the free throw line.

Jonas Jerebko-C+

A little quieter night then we are used to from Jerebko, at least for the first three quarters, but then he added a quick five points in the fourth. He was all over the place as usual and gave maximum effort.

Joel Anthony-C

In three minutes Anthony made an offensive foul, a rebound, and a dunk.

Stan Van Gundy-B+

I really liked that SVG let Drummond come back in late in the third quarter with four fouls. Sometimes you just have to let Drummond play through it, although I admit it can backfire pretty quickly. Luckily it didn’t tonight.

I also thought he made a great adjustment letting Brandon Jennings and D.J. Augustin play together in the fourth with Jerebko, Singler, and Drumond. The ball movement was outstanding to start the quarter and it let Moose get some much needed rest.

The Pistons had another solid night defensively and you can give that credit directly to SVG.