Pistons lose Brandon Jennings, to Bucks

86. 64. Final. 101. 89

<a href=. PG. Pistons. BRANDON JENNINGS. C

F. A dud from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who shot 2-for-12 and struggled defensively.. SG. Pistons. KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE

KYLE SINGLER. F. Singler (2-of-9) shot only marginally better than Caldwell-Pope and also contributed to the Pistons’ perimeter-defense woes.. SF. Pistons

C+. Monroe tried to salvage the Pistons’ 36 percent shooting with 10 of his 16 rebounds coming offensively. With eight points on 3-of-7 shooting, he was part of the scoring problem, though. Monroe actually played alright defense in the paint. The Bucks just got him out of the paint often enough.. PF. Pistons. GREG MONROE

ANDRE DRUMMOND. C. When Zaza Pachulia beat Drummond down the court midway through the third quarter, Van Gundy pulled Drummond for good. Drummond (10 points and seven rebounds) is too talented to not make positive contributions even in a down game, but he’s also too talented for that effort to be acceptable.. C. Pistons

D.J. AUGUSTIN. F. D.J. Augustin: 1-of-7 shooting, zero assists, two turnovers. Ladies and gentlemen, your starting point guard for the foreseeable future. Yikes.. PG. Pistons

D+. Dinwiddie struggled to advance the ball against the Bucks’ strong hedges on pick-and-rolls. Much of the Pistons’ offensive success had been predicated on Jennings penetrating and making good decisions off the dribble as he surged toward the rim. If Dinwiddie joins the rotation while Jennings is out – I don’t see an immediate alternative – there will be (understandable) growing pains.. PG. Pistons. SPENCER DINWIDDIE

Pistons. JODIE MEEKS. D-. Meeks got burnt repeatedly in the first half, but he defended better in garbage time. He was quietly efficient on the other end, shooting 2-of-3 and attempting no 3-pointers for the first time since his Pistons debut.. SG

PF. Pistons. ANTHONY TOLLIVER. A. Tolliver continues to show his scoring skills, shooting 3-of-3 for 12 points.

Jerebko, who missed both his first-half shots, played hard enough in garbage time to pad his numbers by scoring seven points on 3-of-4 shooting in the fourth quarter. Good for Jerebko continuing to bring effort with the game out of hand. It’s just not the most impressive thing.. PF. Pistons. JONAS JEREBKO. B-

D+. Butler scored 10 points on 2-of-9 shooting, uneven production in his return to his native Wisconsin.. SF. Pistons. CARON BUTLER

CARTIER MARTIN. D. Martin played 10 minutes, his most playing time since he was briefly part of the rotation in early December. He shot 0-for-3, which won’t get him back in the rotation, but he played hard defensively, which should keep him from getting buried too far down the bench.. SF. Pistons

C. Pistons. JOEL ANTHONY. C-. Anthony played 12 minutes, his fourth-most this season after <a href=

Head Coach. Pistons. STAN VAN GUNDY. D+. Van Gundy was in Dinwiddie’s ear as the rookie point guard checked in during the fourth quarter. Van Gundy must prepare a short-handed and young team that has unexpectedly found itself in the playoff race, and it will take a lot of coaching on the fly. Against the Bucks, Van Gundy didn’t have the Pistons ready after a two-day break, their longest in this post-Smith era. What comes next will be a much bigger challenge.