FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick observations from Friday night’s 107-95 win over the Philadelphia 76ers
SLAM DUNK – For Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s 36 minutes on the court Friday night, the Pistons were 38 points better than the Philadelphia 76ers. For Reggie Jackson’s 31 minutes, the Pistons were 33 better. They outscored Philadelphia by 31 in Marcus Morris’ 34 minutes, by 34 in Ersan Ilyasova’s 26 and by 27 in Andre Drummond’s 33. Get the idea? Pistons starters were dominant as they snapped a four-game road losing streak and a two-game streak overall. The Pistons owned the first and third quarters with their starters, outscoring the 76res 66-34 in those 24 minutes. The Pistons made great mileage out of an enormous turnover disparity in the first quarter, scoring 19 points off Philadelphia’s 10 turnovers while committing only three themselves and not losing a point due to them. But Van Gundy’s all-bench unit gave up 17 points inside of four minutes – three more than Philly scored in the first quarter – and scored on its first seven possessions of the second quarter, eventually cutting the 24-point deficit to four before the Pistons, mostly the starters, closed the half on a 14-6 run. By the midway point of the third quarter, it was back to 24 on its way to 29. Jackson and Morris scored 21 points apiece and Drummond had 18 points and 16 boards.
FREE THROW – Stan Van Gundy’s bench had some rough patches in the season’s first three weeks, but in most games since it’s generally played to expectations and preserved if not extended leads. But the performance at Philadelphia probably will cause a little heartburn for Van Gundy, his coaching staff and front office. Help for the bench is on the way with Brandon Jennings expected back by the end of the month and Jodie Meeks sometime in February, most likely. The question is if Van Gundy and general manager Jeff Bower will feel any urgency to look for external help via the trade market before Jennings not only returns but gives evidence he’ll provide what the bench needs most – a consistent scoring threat. Tuesday marks the day that the vast majority of free agents signed over the off-season are first eligible to be traded.
3-POINTER – Stan Van Gundy showed his team the numbers when they’d had a day off before a game at Thursday’s practice. They weren’t good. In particular, the Pistons had posted just a 1-2 record in games where they were playing a team that was on the second night of a back to back while the Pistons had been off the previous day. They lost at Brooklyn in such a situation, needed to come back from 16 points down in the fourth quarter to beat Phoenix in overtime and lost to Memphis on Wednesday when the Grizzlies took their only lead of the second half on Matt Barnes’ half-court runner with 1.1 seconds to play. They got their fourth such game of the season at Philly, the 76ers losing a four-point lead after three quarters to fall at Brooklyn on Thursday. But Van Gundy was wary of Philly, which for the most part has played teams tough lately. It was an encouraging sign that the Pistons, who’ve been guilty of letting their guard down against teams with losing records, took care of business quickly. Not so encouraging that their bench so completely squandered the momentum handed them to start the second quarter.
