Jerebko Has Breakout Game as other Pistons Go Cold

Jerebko's breakout game goes for naught as Pistons fall to Clippers
Firing Blanks
by Keith Langlois

The three proven scorers left standing for the Pistons missed nearly twice as many shots as they made Friday night, which goes a long way toward explaining how they came to extend their losing streak to seven games.
Jonas Jerebko more than doubled his previous career high with 22 points and made all four of his 3-point shots, while Ben Wallace ratcheted back the hands of time a few more notches by grabbing 10 offensive rebounds, which goes a long way toward explaining how the Pistons somehow led as late as midway through the fourth quarter and still had a chance to win the game in the final two minutes.

But the shooting travails of Charlie Villanueva (5 of 15), Rodney Stuckey (10 of 24) and Will Bynum (4 of 17) undermined whatever chance the Pistons had to snap their losing streak on the first night they went into a game without their three highest-paid players. Rip Hamilton missed his 15th game, Tayshaun Prince his 13th and Ben Gordon his first after spraining his ankle just before halftime of Wednesday’s loss to Cleveland.

It speaks to John Kuester’s competitiveness and the belief he’s exuded in the capabilities of his roster from one through 14 that his disappointment was palpable after the game, adversity aside.

“I was disappointed with this loss because we had a chance,” he said, “and normally we’ve shown a lot of grit at the end of the fourth period and we didn’t show the same kind of grit that we have in the past.

“Anytime you have those guys you’re counting on shooting that type of percentage, it’s going to hurt your chances. I thought Jonas did a nice job and Austin (Daye) came in and really tried to compete. But guys that we’re counting on to show the leadership through this tough time, they’ve just got to step up. We need them to continue to play with confidence. I believe in them. They just can’t have slippage right now.”

The Pistons were fine for the first half, leading 54-47 at the break, but the struggles of their new big three became even more pronounced in the second half, when the Pistons were outscored 57-42. Villanueva was 0 for 5, Stuckey 3 for 13 and Bynum 2 for 7 after halftime, and the Clippers punished the Pistons defensively when Ben Wallace went to the bench for a breather to start the fourth quarter, getting inside repeatedly and attacking the interior tandem of Villanueva and Jason Maxiell.

“And they should,” Kuester said, coming as close as he’s come to sending a message. “We’ve got to have other guys step up. We had people come off the bench that had given us a boost at times (that) did not play with the same type of intensity that I expect us to play with.”

Villanueva got yanked midway through the first quarter, then again with 1:38 left and the Pistons down four when he got stripped in the post.

Before the game, Kuester was more typically upbeat, and spoke of the opportunities for playing time the crippling run of injuries provided the rookies.

“This is a great opportunity for other players to step up to the plate and, the thing about it is, this is going to make us a stronger team as time goes on. That’s how we’re approaching it. We’ve got a great group of guys. It just would be nice to see them all together at one time, other than that one game. But we’re going to be fine before it’s all over.”

Peel away the gloom of losing for a seventh straight game, and the performances of Jerebko and Daye give Kuester’s pregame optimism more than just a little resonance.

Earlier in the week, Jerebko had said he hadn’t yet shown the tip of the iceberg with regard to his offensive game and lamented that he hadn’t found a rhythm or gained confidence. But he showed off his versatility with the four triples, some back-door cuts for layups, a baby hook in the lane and a drive that ended with him contorting his body in mid-air and switching hands for a right-handed bank shot.

Jerebko scored 12 points in the fourth quarter to keep the Pistons close while playing a career-high 34 minutes. He added five boards and made a beautiful interior pass to Wallace for a three-point play that pulled the Pistons within three with 1:07 to play.

“I know I can shoot, but I think the confidence has been not what it should be,” he said. “But tonight, I made my first shot, the confidence comes back a little bit and then just keeps going after that.”

“Jonas played great tonight,” Bynum said. “We always know one thing with Jonas – we’re going to get 110 percent effort every time. Jonas has just been great all season. It doesn’t surprise me at all. When he first got here in the summer, he was playing extremely well offensively. There’s ups and downs when you’re a rookie. It’s not going to be easy from day one, but he works extremely hard and he’s going to be fine.”

Daye also posted career highs in minutes (33) and points (13) while grabbing five rebounds and holding his own defensively.

When the Pistons get back to full strength – and early indications are that Gordon’s sprained ankle isn’t nearly as severe as Hamilton’s – Kuester’s vision of a deeper team with more options could well be realized.

In the meantime, the onus remains on the shoulders of Stuckey, Bynum and Villanueva, and they’ll have to give the Pistons more efficient scoring if they have any chance to stop the skid from reaching eight against Atlanta on Sunday.

Bynum thinks playing faster is a starting point.

“We have to get some easy baskets,” he said. “Every time, we’re playing against the shot clock. It’s under five seconds left and we’re trying to get the best shot we can possibly get and it’s tough like that. We need to play a little faster, that’s the only way with all these guys out. That’s the only way we’re going to be in games. We can play in spurts, but we’ve got to play faster and get some easy buckets. We have to run, run into our sets quicker. There’s no other way.”

But they have to straddle a fine line, because playing at a higher tempo when Kuester has to rely on three rookies and others, like veteran Chucky Atkins, who were never supposed to be rotation staples. And Kuester would no doubt point out that no matter the Pistons’ offensive struggles, they were still in the game in the final minutes despite allowing the Clippers to shoot 59 percent.

“We’ve got to get some stops and we’ve had that in the past,” he said. “Tonight, we didn’t get the stops we had been getting in the fourth quarter in a number of our games. I like the philosophy of guys understanding don’t do too much and, especially when you’re shorthanded, don’t beat yourselves.”


•Factoid of the night: In starting Daye and Jerebko, the Pistons started two rookies for the first time in 15 years. It was April 24, 1994 when lottery picks Allen Houston and Lindsey Hunter started. The Pistons finished 20-62 that year, got the third pick in the draft and selected Grant Hill.