Detroit Pistons squeak by Boston Celtics in 119-116 win
The Detroit Pistons squeaked by the Boston Celtics tonight 119-116, behind a 31-point game from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
The Detroit Pistons needed a 31 point game from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a heroic fourth quarter performance from Reggie Jackson, and a half court three pointer from Andre Drummond to end the first half to beat the Boston Celtics, but hey, a win is a win.
Here are your grades:
64. 116. 18. Final. 119
Pistons. REGGIE JACKSON. C+. Jackson and Morris were the Pistons primary scorers in the first quarter combining for 13 points. After that, both went pretty quiet for much of the night as the Pistons’ offense flowed through Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. With six minutes left in the game Jackson had just nine points, but he really turned it on after that point finishing the night with 23 points. It was a heroic performance from Jackson late in the game, but he turned the ball over far too often (four turnovers) and didn’t do a good enough job getting his teammates involved (3 assists). On top of that, Isaiah Thomas scored 38 points and dished out seven assists. had it not been for his stellar play at the end of the game and clutch free throws, Jackson would have received a much worse grade.. PG
KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE. A+. Avery Bradley is a really good defender, but you wouldn’t know it based on his performance against KCP tonight. Caldwell-Pope was by far the best player on the court on both ends. Caldwell-Pope scored 31 points tonight including 12/12 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, KCP is really underrated. He could easily be an 18-20 point scorer per game under different circumstances.. SG. Pistons
C. Morris–aside from the first quarter–was really quiet tonight. Honestly, I don’t remember him doing anything after that, except for late in the game when he almost coughed up an inbounds pass with just seconds remaining on the clock. He scored just 11 points on 4-9 shooting and one rebound. Attribute Morris’ quiet night on offense to Caldwell-Pope’s added production. As for the rebounds, that HAS to go up.. SF. Pistons. MARCUS MORRIS
Pistons. ANDRE DRUMMOND. B. Drummond finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds including a half court bomb at the buzzer to end the first half. That was a HUGE bucket considering the Pistons won by just three points. What knocks Drummond’s grade down a bit was his free throw shooting (3-10 from the line) which the Celtics took full advantage of. They hacked Drummond early and often which forced Stan Van Gundy have to pull him from the game.. C
Not many minutes for Johnson tonight, but he made the most of it. In 19 minutes he scored eight points (3-5 shooting), grabbed seven rebounds, and he was +11. Johnson typically rides the line of being in control and out of control, but he was on the right side of that tonight when he was attacking the rim. That’s usually the difference between him having a productive night, and him having a not so productive night.. SF. Pistons. STANLEY JOHNSON. B+
A. Baynes had an injury scare in the second half when he got his surgically repaired nose hit hard, but was later able to return to the game. He had nine points and three rebounds in just 12 minutes of action.. C. Pistons. ARON BAYNES
Pistons. ANTHONY TOLLIVER. A. Tolliver’s three-point shooting was huge in the fourth quarter. He knocked down 3-4 from distance and added two rebounds and two assists in 15 minutes.. PF
C. Ilyasova had 11 points on 2-8 shooting and drew a tough matchup against the much larger Jared Sullinger. He did the best he could against the big man, but most of the time his efforts weren’t good enough.. PF. Pistons. ERSAN ILYASOVA
STEVE BLAKE. C-. Blake was +19 somehow despite going 0-4 from the field and having only two assists with two turnovers. While his offensive contributions were minimal, I thought his defense was passable.. PG. Pistons
Pistons. STAN VAN GUNDY. B. I would have liked to see Reggie Jackson come into the game earlier in the fourth quarter. I know he had a rough game up to that point, but he’s too good to keep on the bench–especially when the Pistons lead was slipping. What I did like from Van Gundy tonight was that he let Drummond’s free throw shooting decide whether or not he was going to play. Van Gundy has shown that he will give Drummond the opportunity to show that he can trust him at the line. Tonight wasn’t one of those nights, so Van Gundy pulled him.. Head Coach