Down one with eight seconds left in the game and without the ball, the Detroit Pistons found a way to beat the defending NBA champs. They were able to do that ultimately because Brandon Jennings finally found a way to get the ball in the basket.
4-for-17 on the night before his final shot, including two missed layups in the final minutes, Jennings took a quick pitch from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope after an Andre Drummond steal and went coast-to-coast, banking his fifth make of the game for the game, the Pistons' sixth straight win.
Jennings naturally felt pretty good after struggling all night (via NBA.com).
"Yeah, I mean I was really upset with myself because I missed those two layups that I thought I should have made. My shot wasn't falling, but I just stuck with it. I was just like if anything on this last shot, I'm going to go to the rack and Dre (Andre Drummond) will probably clean it up for us."
Drummond didn't need to do any cleaning.
Jennings expressed confidence in knowing that he would take the ball to the rack, but he wasn't as confident in whether or not he was even going to be playing in that moment. Jennings told reporters in the locker room after the game that if it were up to him, D.J. Augustin, who had the better overall game, would've been playing.
Jennings: "If it was up to me, if he would’ve asked me I would’ve said let DJ stay in there. DJ, he just had a rhythm."
— Vincent Goodwill (@vgoodwill) January 7, 2015
Maybe Augustin makes that shot, too, but it doesn't matter. Stan Van Gundy trusted Jennings, Jennings ultimately trusted himself and more importantly, the team is trusting each other to take care of business.
And the team is taking care of f'ing business right now.