It took the Detroit Pistons almost three minutes to score their first basket, however despite that slow start, they eventually took the lead and held it.
In a night where it took the Detroit Pistons almost three minutes to score their first basket, you would think that it was going to be one of ‘those nights’. You however, would be wrong. As once Detroit finally managed to gain the lead early in the 2nd quarter, they never looked back, able to keep Minnesota at arm’s length the rest of the night.
It was a night where Andre Drummond became the second youngest player EVER, to grab 5000 rebounds, only second to Dwight Howard. It also ended up becoming a career night for the Piston Powered Player of the game: Tobias Harris. He managed to pour in an efficient career high 34 points! Tobias shot 14 of 24 from the field, including 6 of 9 from the three point line.
In a game where the Detroit Pistons moved the ball quickly and effectively totalling a whopping 32 assists for the game, they totalled 122 points! Yes Minnesota didn’t have their key offseason acquisition Jimmy Butler, but it’s an encouraging sign for a Pistons team that has struggled getting the ball in the basket at times through the early part of the season. The Pistons showed great energy and effort all night.
Player Grades:
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Reggie Jackson – C
Reggie Jackson’s stats do not jump off the page, but he competed hard defensively and shared the ball appropriately amongst teammates. Reggie had a solid game and seems to have found confidence in his body again which is a good thing. He gets a passing grade here.
Avery Bradley – A
Avery Bradley had his best game for the Detroit Pistons by far today. He impacted play on the defensive end wreaking havoc which is expected. As well as this he had his best game offensively managing 20 points! Most impressive was the way the points came though, he looked comfortable and didn’t force the offense.
Stanley Johnson – B+
Stanley Johnson had his best offensive game of the season scoring 15 points in a variety of ways (he shot 6 of 12 from the field, including 2 of 2 from the free throw line. He shared the ball totalling 3 assists and impacted the game on the defensive end which is what will be expected from him.
Tobias Harris – A+
Harris continued his rich vein of form totalling a career high 34 points! He shot 58.3 percent from the field including 66.6 percent from the three-point line. He was all over the court adding 2 steals and a block as well.
Andre Drummond – A
Drummond played hard and looked engaged all night. He contained Karl Anthony-Towns fairly well, and went at him, and he showed off his much underrated passing game by adding 4 assists to his 15 points, 15 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.
Ish Smith – A
Ish Smith loves to get out in transition and push the pace, and boy did he do that this game. Ish pushed the pace and dished out a whopping 13 assists off the bench in his 21 minutes.
Langston Galloway – B+
Galloway continued his excellent play off the bench ending up a +17 in his 17 minutes off the bench. Galloway and Smith seem to really excel playing together and Galloway looks to be the key to the Pistons’ bench scoring.
Jon Leuer – C
Leuer had a little bounce back game in terms of his rebounding collecting a total of 9 for the game. Other than that an average game for Leuer.
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Henry Ellenson – B+
Ellenson had one of his best games of the season and the tandem of him at the 5, and Leuer at the 4 really seemed to flourish off the bench. He finished with 14 points and 5 rebounds and got some excellent looks on offense, and had several good defensive plays.