Three quick observations from Friday night’s 100-92 win over the Phoenix Suns
SLAM DUNK -The Pistons bench, outscored 43-2 in their first loss of the season the last time out, had a validation game to get the Pistons off to a nice start on a grueling six-game Western road swing. It went beyond its 20-15 scoring edge over Phoenix, too. The Pistons stretched their lead from four to 10 over the first four minutes of the fourth quarter with four bench players on the court. Steve Blake keyed the spurt by feeding Aron Baynes for one layup and a second that instead became two free throws when he was hacked. The Pistons made enough big plays down the stretch – almost all of them from Reggie Jackson – to make that 10-point lead hold up. Jackson scored 14 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter after taking over for Blake, including a huge runner with 1:47 to play after Phoenix had pulled within three points. Marcus Morris added 20 and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 18 points for the Pistons and Andre Drummond recorded his fifth consecutive double-double to start the season, finishing with 12 points and 17 rebounds.
FREE THROW – The new rotation Stan Van Gundy devised – after the 20-0 run against a five-man bench unit led to the first defeat of the season the last time out – means lots of minutes for Marcus Morris and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, in all likelihood. With Van Gundy determined to always have at least one, and usually at least two, starters on the court, the bench has been shortened to four players. The odd man out, for the time being, is Reggie Bullock. That means Stanley Johnson is the primary backup for both Morris and Caldwell-Pope, but even Johnson’s minutes are down as he adjusts to the NBA. Morris played nearly 22 minutes and Caldwell-Pope nearly 19 in Friday’s first half and they finished with 39 and 36 minutes. Johnson played 22 minutes and was outstanding defensively guarding everything from point guard to power forward.
3-POINTER – Stan Van Gundy didn’t exactly reveal the Pistons draft board after they took Stanley Johnson with the No. 8 pick last June, but he did admit that they held Kentucky’s Devin Booker in high esteem. Booker went three picks after the Pistons picked Johnson eighth, going to Phoenix. While Johnson played his college basketball about an hour south of Phoenix at the University of Arizona, Booker spent his first 15 years in Grand Rapids – a huge fan of the Pistons – before moving to be with his father in Mississippi. They two rookies – the two youngest from what so far appears a dazzling first-year crop – squared off for the first time Friday night. Booker hasn’t yet cracked the Phoenix rotation, though he’d played in three of the first five games, and didn’t play Friday. Johnson played 20 minutes, finishing with five points, five rebounds and two assists.
