Pistons stage a great rally only to fall short in thriller versus Suns

Phoenix Suns 102, Detroit Pistons 90

Brandon Jennings – B+

Jennings had a rough start to the game and started the second half 1-6. But he kept Detroit in the game for much of the night with one ferocious drive after another. I might be giving him too much credit because his one made three (the middle of a 9-0 run to put the Pistons up one with 35 seconds to go) was much more memorable than his eight misses. But overall, I’m happy with his 19 and 7 line. And he deserved credit for more than the two steals he got. He was hounding ball handlers and poking the rock away all night. My one  complaint, besides the missed shots, is that he was awful at fighting through screens.

Andre Drummond – D+

Drummond grabbed 13 boards in just 25 minutes. But his post game continues to be really ugly, as evidenced by his 2-10 shooting. Van Gundy was smarter with his minutes management, too. He did pull Drummond in the first quarter with 2 fouls because Andre seemed a bit on edge. But then Drummond got to go back in, still in the first, in spite of the foul trouble. Kudos, Stan, for not arbitrarily waiting until the second period. Andre didn’t get a ton of minutes the rest of the game, but that was mostly because Jerebko was playing well.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – B-

KCP’s stat line looked bad with 2 minutes to go. Then he hit a pair of threes sandwiching Jennings’ in Detroit’s final 9-0 rally. Caldwell-Pope very nearly became the hero of the game. As nice as it was, though, that Kentavious hit two of his final four shots, all three balls, Jerebko deserved way more credit for his hustle. Especially when you consider that KCP played Jennings-esque defense all game long. That is to say that he hounded the ball well but gave up on too many plays that he could have recovered after getting beat once.

Josh Smith – C+

Smith played hard and only took 5 shots (none of them terrible) in his 23 minutes. I’m not sure why Van Gundy gave him so little playing time. He didn’t do a great job and certainly wasn’t living up to his contract (does he ever?), but Smith brought significantly more good than bad to the table in this game.

Greg Monroe – A-

Monroe was a beast in the first half, pretty much scoring down low at will and rebounding well, too. Somehow, he finished the night just 7-17. But 18 and 12 is a solid night. And he actually defended well at power forward, mitigating any impact by Markieff Morris. Once he moved to center, though, he was less effective against Len. If this game were all you had to go on, you’d say that Monroe plays much better alongside Drummond than not. While his stat line won’t blow you away, Monroe was hustling harder than almost anyone out there, most notably with his huge steal with 55 seconds remaining.

Kyle Singler – C-

Singler hit a big three as the shot clock was running out at some point in the second half. Apart from that, he was mostly invisible in his 17 minutes.

D.J. Augustin – C-

I don’t honestly see much of a difference between D.J. Augustin and Will Bynum. And Bynum was more fun. Augustin is probably a slight upgrade, but the difference is nominal. It’s pretty sad when that’s your team’s second biggest summer acquisition (and the biggest acquisition isn’t expected to make a difference until after New Year).

Caron Butler – C-

Butler took advantage of an open shot afforded him by Marcus Morris tripping over his own feet. And on the whole, he’s been better than expected this year. But I’d still rather see his minutes go to KCP, Singler, and Jerebko.

Jonas Jerebko – A

Jerebko did everything you could possibly ask of him in this game. He is a limited player, but he hustled harder than any player on either team. And in so doing, he came up with a couple huge plays. He slammed home a put back on a Drummond miss and he wove through all the Suns to grab the offensive rebound that made KCP’s go-ahead three possible.

Spencer Dinwiddie – F

Dinwiddie really looked bad. His three misses came nowhere close to going in, he overdribbled, and whenever he started to make a move, you could see exactly what he was going to do. I like the kid, but he didn’t look NBA-caliber in this one.

Stan Van Gundy – D

The Pistons hung with the Suns, a better team, all night. Phoenix finally pulled away to it’s biggest lead, 85-77 with just under 2 minutes to go and the Pistons fought back. They played their toughest, ballsiest basketball I’ve seen all season over the ensuing minute and a half, stealing the ball, offensively rebounding, and eventually hitting a couple shots to take a 86-85 lead. Ultimately, Phoenix still won, but Van Gundy’s team didn’t quit on him. That’s something. Now, hopefully Zach Lowe is right about what SVG is doing with Drummond and it’ll pay big dividends next season and beyond.