Orlando Magic 107
Detroit Pistons 93
Andre Drummond — B-
Best game Drummond has played in awhile. He was horrible offensively in the first half, but had a pair of nice and-one plays in the second half — a baseline dunk and a nice short hook — and he did the best (still bad) chasing Channing Frye at the 3-point line. I liked his defensive effort most. He was a presence as a help defender blocking three shots. This was a step, but he’s still fouling too much and playing a step slow.
Greg Monroe — D+
Started strong, fizzled after the first quarter. He didn’t have a whole lot of room to work, but he should have done more against Frye. He was one of many Pistons slow on way too many rotations and Frye busted out of halftime with two 3-pointers at his expense.
Josh Smith — D
Smith played a large role in the Pistons coming back in the third quarter, but outside of that he was largely invisible. Zero rebounds in 30 minutes is inexcusable and while his offensive game wasn’t horrible, his 3-pointer with the Pistons trying to comeback was especially cringe-worthy. Remember when he said he was done with those? lol.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — C+
He shot reasonably well and moved the ball on offense but he’s a complete non-factor when it comes to scoring off the dribble. He was decent at the 3 (2/4) but pretty bad at the D (Evan Fournier with 14 points, 8 assists).
Brandon Jennings — B+
Jennings dominated the first quarter and never saw the court in the second… which was odd. He came back and played well in the second half, but he just never found his game to the same extent in the second half. He continues to be the best Pistons player in recent games, but another guard has to show some consistent life.
D.J. Augustin — B-
Played all of the second quarter and shared the court with Jennings in the third. I think that duo can be good, but I think it needs Drummond playing well as a help defender to be really usable. Augustin’s offense and playmaking was nice, but he was a liability defensively. He didn’t play much in the fourth quarter, I’d guess, because of it.
Caron Butler — A-
Welcome to 2005, Caron. Give Butler credit, when the Pistons offense bogs down and needs someone to create their own shot he’s willing. Doesn’t make it a good thing all the time, but he’s still crafty enough to have a nice scoring game like this. But when that’s your best offensive weapon out there on the perimeter? Get well soon, Jodie Meeks.
Jonas Jerebko — D
On a night where Josh Smith wasn’t hoisting up tons of ill-advised jumpers, Jerebko filled that role admirably. He couldn’t get anything to drop, but with Stan Van Gundy going with four perimeter players around Drummond, he seemed to have the green light — except for a second quarter sequence when two of his missed jumpers resulted in an irate Van Gundy timeout. His defensive effort was forgettable unless your name was Tobias Harris (24 points). In that case, his defense was fantastic.
Kyle Singler — C+
The jumper looked good tonight and Singler had a nice drive and dunk when the Pistons were playing well in the second quarter. He’s got to make shots to play and when he is he’s a smart option to have out there. He also played a part in Harris’ nice night.
Joel Anthony — D
He did nothing in three minutes. Anthony was left so open when he had the ball that it was actually harder for him to find a teammate to pass to than to actually try to score. That’s something.
Stan Van Gundy — C-
I’m sure Van Gundy is aware of Frye’s ability to shoot. I’m sure he’s aware that Nik Vucevic loves that 16-foot jumper and I’m sure he knew the Magic’s biggest strength is moving the ball. But I don’t know if he had any clue how to stop it. He tried Monroe, Smith and Drummond on Frye in the second half, he got a dog crap shooting game from two of his three bigs and I still don’t know what he’s doing with the Jennings-Augustin situation. If Jennings is playing like he was in the first quarter, he shouldn’t be sitting an entire quarter. The Pistons finished with 17 assists and Orlando had 33 assists (!!!). They were clinically annihilated by the Magic in the second half. No other way to put it.