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Caldwell-Pope, Pistons Finding Groove Offensively

By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby

Offense has been a bit of a shaky topic for the Pistons this season – they're 20th in the NBA with 99.3 points a game. And defensively, they're in the top 10, allowing fewer than 98.

The tides switched against the Celtics Wednesday night, when Detroit's offense started clicking, and Boston's Isaiah Thomas ran rampant on the other side.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope poured in a career-high 31 points off 10-of-16 shooting (3-of-4 from behind the arc). And it was enough for the Pistons to win 119-116. But Boston still made 40 percent of its three-pointers (10-of-25), and Thomas went off for 38 points on 12-of-20 shooting.

Caldwell-Pope has been streaky all year. He's been held to single-digit scoring six times and is shooting 28.7 percent from behind the arc.

"Yeah, but I've got to keep shooting," Caldwell-Pope said of losing confidence in his shot earlier. "I can't stop shooting, then that'll definitely take my confidence down, so I just have to keep at it."

He's done just that, making 38 percent of his threes and averaging 20.3 points in the last four games.

"He's in a real good groove right now," forward Marcus Morris said.

"He played really well," head coach Stan Van Gundy said. "The best offensive game I've seen him have."

Even further than Wednesday night, it was the best offensive game Caldwell-Pope has turned in during his two-plus-year career. And after scoring 119 points against a top 10 NBA defense in the Celtics, the Pistons turned in one of their own best offensive performances of the season.

They finished 38-of-78 from the field (48.7 percent) and 11-of-21 from behind the arc (52.4 percent). One of those treys was a Drummond half-court buzzer beater to end the first half – the second three-pointer he's made in his career.

Anthony Tolliver hit back-to-back three-pointers in the fourth quarter when Boston was making a run at Detroit's double-digit lead. After Andre Drummond was benched in the third quarter (the Celtics had already started employing the hack-a-Drummond strategy, and he went  3-of-10 from the free throw line), Joel Anthony was called upon and scored 9 of his own.

"Offensively, we were good pretty much all day," Van Gundy said. "Our second unit, I thought, played really well today. There were a lot of good things from an offensive standpoint. We didn't play very good defense. Obviously, Isaiah Thomas just lit us up."

Reggie Jackson struggled early, scoring nine through three quarters. But he went off for 14 in the final period, doing nothing to dispel the notion that he is the Piston most likely to finish off an opponent.

Boston had allowed 98.4 points per game before Wednesday, and Detroit blew that out of the water with its 119. It was a balanced attack, but Caldwell-Pope was certainly the headliner.

"He was the catalyst for us tonight," Jackson said. "He really got us going when things were looking dim for us, scored the ball for us. He always makes hellacious plays on defense with his effort and energy, and (he's) one of the most explosive players in the league. … (It was) special to see the way he was scoring and continue to find the energy to play on the other side of the ball."

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