Pistons beat Celtics to go 3-1 for annual stretch of meaningless wins

64. Final. 97. 18. 105

Pistons. REGGIE JACKSON. B+. Reggie Jackson’s shot was a bit off (what else is new), but he smothered Avery Bradley and nearly racked up a triple-double.<p class=. PG

KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE. B+. I alluded to this in Reggie Jackson’s section, but Caldwell-Pope has been killing it without Monroe on the floor. He is now averaging 22 points on 62/36/85 splits. Compare that to his season numbers of 14 points on 40/34/69. I have to chalk that primarily up to small sample size, but it’s still impressive.. SG. Pistons

C+. I can’t say the fact that the Pistons set a franchise record for most threes in a season particularly excites me. The rate of shooting threes has been steadily increasing league-wide for decades. This is the sort of record made to fall.<p class=. SF. Pistons. CARON BUTLER

D-. Tolliver’s defense wasn’t too bad, but he was the worst player on the floor in this game. This was the third game of the season for a Piston to attempt at least seven shots without hitting any, and the first by a non-point guard.. PF. Pistons. ANTHONY TOLLIVER

C. Pistons. ANDRE DRUMMOND. A-. The good: Drummond had 18 points, 22 rebounds, 4 blocks, and managed to commit just 4 fouls in 40 minutes.<br />The bad: Drummond was 2-11 from the line. He is now shooting 38.5% this season and 39.6% for his career. Drummond has a legitimate shot at going down as the worst free throw shooter in NBA history. He is already on pace this year to join Jerome Lane, Chris Dudley, Ben Wallace, and DeAndre Jordan as the only players to ever have multiple seasons attempting at least 100 free throws and converting under 40%. If he does it once more, it’ll just be him and Jordan at three.

B+. When Jackson would take a break from tormenting Bradley, Dinwiddie would do the same to Pressey, blockinghis shot twice and taking the ball from him another time. It’s nice to have a point guard way bigger than your opponent’s.. PG. Pistons. SPENCER DINWIDDIE

B. Meeks arguably just played his best game since February 10th. When 14 points and 5 boards on 5-8 shooting in 34 minutes could even be argued as that, it’s pretty bad.. SG. Pistons. JODIE MEEKS

B-. I didn’t believe it at the time of the trade, but Prince has somehow turned into a competent role player and is probably doing better than Jerebko or Datome would have done here, even if for no reason besides Van Gundy’s apparent aversion to them. He’s averaging a modest 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists per 36 minutes, but his shooting splits are among the team’s best at 44/39/71.. SF. Pistons. TAYSHAUN PRINCE

JOEL ANTHONY. C. Anthony does reasonably well against slow big men and helping on little slashers, but he is helpless against guys like Crowder who can cut into the lane and still get off a shot with a high release. As soon as Anthony would check in, Crowder would start making hay at the rack.. C. Pistons

C. As Pistons fans have come to expect, this team doesn’t know how to lose games at the end of the season. It’s hard to fault the coach, especially when Drummond and KCP get big minutes. But how about playing Quincy Miller a bit? Why not play a little more with Jackson and Dinwiddie on the floor to see how they work together? It would be good to know if either or both can play reasonably well off the ball.. Head Coach. Pistons. STAN VAN GUNDY