Harris’ Pistons debut spoiled by Wall, Wizards
By Tim Thielke
The Pistons just looked like a much inferior team tonight and couldn’t hang with the Washington Wizards. Harris looked good in his debut but Wall was at a higher level than anyone else on the court.
Final. 98. 142. 86. 64
Jackson was occasionally able to generate baskets when the offense was grinding to a halt. And his defense was way better than Blake’s. But he still didn’t have a great game.. PG. Pistons. REGGIE JACKSON. C-
F. In his return from injury, KCP had one of the worst games of his career. His 1-11 shooting was the biggest difference between a competitive game and the one we actually had. And he didn’t doa thing to offset it on defense. Both Wall and Beal torched Caldwell-Pope repeatedly.. SG. Pistons. KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE
SF. Pistons. MARCUS MORRIS. C. Marcus Morris had a rough shooting night as well. But at least he outplayed his twin. And he generally did a good job of denying Otto Porter the ball.
C-. As expected, Tolliver got the starting nod. He wasn’t very effective, though, and fortunately didn’t get a lot of playing time.. PF. Pistons. ANTHONY TOLLIVER
ANDRE DRUMMOND. C+. Drummond struggled with Gortat, but he was struggling and not hanging his head. He also avoided playing like he was afraid to go the free throw line. That always helps.. C. Pistons
Pistons. STEVE BLAKE. C. Steve Blake was perfectly acceptable on offense. With the addition of Tobias Harris, there were enough players who could create their shots, that he didn’t hold the team back on that end. But he continues to be useless on defense.. PG
Stanley Johnson played tough defense on Beal, but to no avail. He continues to lack savvy on offense where he lost a basket by leaning too far forward on the shot and letting Porter pick up the offensive foul.. SF. Pistons. STANLEY JOHNSON. C-
Tobias Harris had a very nice debut. He looked like a legitimate go-to scorer. He made a couple stupid mistakes resulting in turnovers, but still ended up with an efficient 21 points. His defense was about average.. SF. Pistons. TOBIAS HARRIS. A-
Baynes was apparently injured, but it didn’t show. He picked up six points and six rebounds on perfect shooting in under 15 minutes. And his block was a thing of beauty. He did miss all three free throws, though.. C. Pistons. ARON BAYNES. B+
Inc. Hilliard looked perfectly acceptable in garbage time but it wasn’t enough to really grade.. SG. Pistons. DARRUN HILLIARD II
Pistons. REGGIE BULLOCK. Inc. Reggie Bullock looked bad in garbage time but it wasn’t enough to really grade.. SG
Pistons. STAN VAN GUNDY. D. The Pistons looked bad in almost every respect. I have to give Van Gundy some credit for that.. Head Coach