NBA scores 2016: Watch out, the Pistons are falling into place

Detroit’s parts are all coming together, and you can surely thank Stan Van Gundy for that.

Dec 3, 2016, 1:00 PM UTC

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Reggie Jackson could return as early as Sunday for the Pistons, coming back just as the team is figuring out how to win without him.

That’s a good problem for Stan Van Gundy to have. In fact, is it even a problem at all? Worries about breaking up a team’s rhythm are always there, but Jackson will only amplify the way the team’s been playing, not change it. And that way, mind you, has been pretty damn good for a couple weeks.

Detroit has won five of their last six games, at it has aced three straight tests against its Eastern Conference playoffs peers. The Pistons beat the Hornets on Tuesday, snuck past the Celtics and on Friday night clobbered the Hawks so bad that Mike Budenholzer started five bench players to begin the second half. All three games came on the road, and a win against the Clippers came a couple games before that.

Before the five wins in six games, the Pistons had lost seven times in nine appearances. They’re 11-10 right now, and it’s fair to call them streaky. But Jackson’s return should help that, as should the team coming together overall. For each of their major flaws, it feels like they have a solution in place.

Ish Smith has drastically improved as Jackson’s fill-in, scoring double figures in 11 of his last 13 games that includes a 11-point, 13-assist performance against the Hawks on Friday. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is emerging as a two-way force, and the team’s three-point shooting — thought to be one of the team’s weak points — is decidedly average. For Detroit, they’ll happily take that.

The defense is the driving force, coming in fifth-best in the league with a 101.1 defensive rating. That’s about 2.5 points better per 100 possessions than last season, and it’s coming almost completely from the bench — Aron Baynes and Beno Udrih are in four of Detroit’s best five defensive units (with at least 20 minutes played), and Jon Leuer is surprisingly in all five.

Chalk that up to Stan Van Gundy, in all likelihood. The team’s defense is actually worse with Andre Drummond on the floor, and the Notorious SVG is making it work anyway. He’s been missing his star point guard that dominated the ball all last season, and it hasn’t mattered. With Jackson’s return coming very soon, look out. The Pistons are starting to look like the best case scenario of what we imagined they could be.

Uhh, Cavaliers?

Cleveland has lost three straight now — to the Bucks on Tuesday, the Clippers on Thursday and now Chicago Friday. What’s up with that?

The boring but more than likely accurate answer is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Three losses puts them at 13-5 on the season, still sitting atop the Eastern Conference. The Clippers are arguably on their level, while the Bucks and Bulls are both quality squads. It was three games in four nights, too.

But for now in the short term, we can point out a singular culprit: Cleveland’s defense. On Friday, they allowed a season-high 78 points in the paint. They’ve allowed at least 111 points in all three games, and they’re averaging about 111 points given up in their last six games (and it’d be way worse if not for the miserable Mavericks offense only putting up 90).

The first of those six games came against the Trail Blazers, where the Cavaliers won 138-125. That’s part of the problem — Cleveland knows it can win playing terrible defense, because some nights its offense is that good. In that game, they shot 53 percent from the field with 21 made triples. No one’s beating them with those kinds of numbers.

But that offense doesn’t show up every night. Kevin Love definitely doesn’t score 34 points in a quarter every night, like he did against Portland! For that reason, the Cavaliers need a defense better than No. 20 in the league. They’re clearly capable of it, landing 10 spots higher last year. We know the Cavaliers have a second gear they’re saving for the playoffs, but the defensive level they’re currently playing at just doesn’t cut it.

Kawhi Leonard had the most Kawhi Leonard game winner of all time.

Here’s the shot.

Kawhi could have held the ball, waiting for the clock to run off a few more seconds and then taken a tougher jumper with time expiring. But why? He had an open look.

Kawhi could have cracked a smile headed back to the bench, chest bumped a teammate and enjoyed the bucket. But why? The Spurs still needed another defensive stop.

Kawhi could have sounded excited after the game, putting some inflection in his voice, instead of sounding like he was renewing his license at the DMV. But why? It was a jumper, like he’s hit a hundred times before.

That’s Kawhi for you.

Friday’s top performers

Joel Embiid (25 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists)

The 76ers are pretty awful, but every minute of Embiid is worth watching. His three-point shooting percentage on the season now: 50 percent. That’s terrifying.

Marcin Gortat (21 points, 18 rebounds, 2 blocks)

Gortat fouled out, unfortunately, and the Wizards lose. But we respect this stat line.

Al Horford (26 points, 10-of-18 shooting, 8 rebounds, 6 blocks)

This is why Boston brought Horford to town. That’s the star they’ve been missing in the front court.

Kyle O’Quinn? (20 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks?)

Uh, I’m really sorry folks. There must be an error with the Knicks box score. Lemme double check this for you.

Hm.

Alright, maybe it’s a system error, but they’re saying those numbers are correct.

Either way, it’s showing that Kyle O’Quinn really did shoot 9-of-11 from the floor while scoring 20 in the starting lineup. And this likely concludes O’Quinn’s one and only appearance on this feature all season.