Pistons back on track after win against Nets
93. 147. 98. 64. Final
SG. Pistons. KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE. B. After taking a boat load of three’s last night Caldwell-Pope was much more judicious with his shots (just 2/5 for six points), but his defense was excellent. In the fourth quarter Caldwell-Pope had a nice back-to-back series that started with an excellent transition layup in traffic. Directly after that, he made a nice steal and hit Brandon Jennings with a perfect pass in stride, which got the crowd going. It’s nice to see KCP contribute like he did tonight (4 assists, 4 steals) in the clutch without having to take a ton of shots, but he did have some ball control issues with four turnovers.
Drummond may still be feeling the effects of the cold he was suffering from last night as he only played two minutes in the fourth, but he was much better tonight. He had 14 points on 6/9 shooting, but I noticed him more on defense. He finished the game with two blocks and a steal along with nine rebounds–which is below what we’ve come to expect from Drummond — but he was solid in help defense and one on one against Brook Lopez. Part of the reason Drummond’s rebound totals were a bit low, along with the lack of fourth quarter minutes, was that he wasn’t as good boxing out tonight. Attribute that to his cold. . Center. Pistons. ANDRE DRUMMOND. B+
Pistons. ANTHONY TOLLIVER. D. Five minutes tonight for Tolliver with a donut across the stat sheet. His plus/minues was -4.. SF/PF
Pistons. BRANDON JENNINGS. A. Jennings was a much more traditional point guard in the first half, controlling the tempo and feeding his teammates the ball amassing just two points with seven assists. But in the second half, Jennings channeled his inner Lil’ bow bow and swapped his red shoes for his magical blue ones and dropped 13 points in the third quarter alone. His final stat line: 20 points and 11 assists, was impressive, but it was clearly all in the shoes.. PG
C. His defense continues to leave me wanting more, but at least he hit most of his spot up jumpers tonight.. SF. Pistons. KYLE SINGLER
A+. “And One” had 16 points and 17 rebounds, but did leave about six points on the floor. Still, he’s been absolutely great this season fitting in well with Drummond and the rest of the team.. PF/C. Pistons. GREG MONROE
F. File a missing persons report, because Jodie Meeks has lost his jump shot. If found please contact the Pistons A.S.A.P. I seriously never thought I’d see Jodie Meeks air ball a wide open three.. SG. Pistons. JODIE MEEKS
PG. Pistons. D.J. AUGUSTIN. D. 2/7 from the floor with five points and six assists in 18 minutes and a few bad defensive series against Alan Anderson and Bojan Bogdanovic.
Butler found his shot, then lost it in the middle of the game, then found it again. Part of the issue was he was taking too many contested threes, but what that did was open up his mid range game. After defenders realized that Butler was going to hoist up a shot no matter how tightly they contested, he gave the defense a hard ball fake and took a step inside for a wide open shot. Butler, and this is no hyperbole, has one of the smoothest mid range shots I’ve seen.. SF. Pistons. CARON BUTLER. C+
B+. Jerebko saved his best for last, knocking down a pair of threes and grabbing some big time rebounds in the fourth. He earned his way into the rotation and he has not disappointed with his additional minutes.. SF/PF. Pistons. JONAS JEREBKO
STAN VAN GUNDY. A+. One night it’s Drummond for the Pistons, the next it’s Jennings. Another night it’s an explosion from Augustin, Monroe, Caldwell-Pope, or Meeks. When you win seven of eight games with up and down performances from key contributes it tells me one of two things: Either you have a roster full of all-stars or you have a damn good coach. The Pistons have a damn good coach. Enjoy it Detroit, this team is fun.. Head Coach. Pistons