Drummond rumbles for 19 and 24 but the Pistons fall handily to the Mavericks
By Tim Thielke
Dallas Mavericks, 117 Detroit Pistons, 106
Andre Drummond — A+
Drummond was dominant on both ends of the court. This could easily be one of the top five stat lines put up by anybody this season. And he even managed to avoid foul trouble. Yes, he fouled out with 29 seconds remaining, but that was because he picked up four fouls in one minute as the Pistons were intentionally stopping the clock.
Josh Smith — B-
Josh Smith did have foul trouble and consequently didn’t spend much time on the floor. But he made the most of it, with an efficient and productive two-way game on a per-minute basis.
Kyle Singler — B
My analysis of Singler is near identical to that for Smith. The main difference is that Van Gundy was foolish (or not trying to win) in playing Singler so few minutes, regardless of his foul situation. Parsons burned Butler repeatedly, but Singler was holding his own on both ends when in the game.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — F
Caldwell-Pope just looked bad out there. He shot poorly, couldn’t get to the line, and played very cavalier defense. The Pistons would have been better off giving his minutes to almost anyone else.
Brandon Jennings — D-
Jennings put up an inefficient 13 and 7 while playing poor defense. So [retty much par for the course.
Greg Monroe — D+
Monroe shot poorly but was otherwise playing at about his normal level. Van Gundy cut his minutes short and didn’t let him salvage a respectable game out of this one.
Jodie Meeks — D
Meeks looks like he is playing injured. He probably is. He’s a step slow and doesn’t have great lift on his jumpers. That means he is currently a liability on both ends. I don’t know whether he needs game time to shake off the rust, but this is already a lost season so who cares.
D.J. Augustin — C+
Augustin did everything he was supposed to. But that’s really not saying much.
Caron Butler — F
Butler’s shooting wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible either. His defense on Parsons was. The Pistons kept the game neck-and-neck most of the way. Then they gift-wrapped it to the Mavs with a brutal 15-2 run at the end of the third quarter. Lots of Pistons were responsible, but especially Butler and Meeks. I’m giving Meeks an injury pass. Butler not so much.
Jonas Jerebko — A
Jerebko came in to stop the bleeding at the end of that third quarter run. He did an excellent job, hitting all five of his shots and keeping various Dallas forwards in check. If Jerebko played more of the game, the Pistons might have won.
Stan Van Gundy — C-
It’s hard to tell what Van Gundy is trying to do. He plays Singler and Butler ahead of Jerebko in spite of the fact that Jonas has played much better than either this season. When Singler and Smith are actually playing well, he lets them cool their heels on the bench. And yet, he doesn’t appear to be trying to lose because he has worse players to work with in Dinwiddie, Datome, Mitchell, etc.
Anyway, the Pistons ought to have lost this game by about 11. The Mavs are really good this season and Detroit isn’t. So that would earn Stan a C, but I’ve got to dock him for his inexplicable lineup decisions.