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The Detroit Pistons will be without Kentavious Caldwell-Pope tonight against the Philadelphia 76ers, who suffered a right knee contusion Friday, the team announced.
With KCP out of the lineup Detroit will start second-year guard Darrun Hilliard with Stanley Johnson presumably as his primary backup.
Johnson played big minutes Saturday for the Grand Rapids Drive scoring 26 points with five rebounds and four assists. He shot 9-of-19 overall including 3-of-8 from deep.
Hilliard is averaging 4.1 points and 35 percent from the perimeter in 11.3 minutes per game.
If Johnson does not serve as the primary backup then Stan Van Gundy could use tonight as an opportunity to see if Beno Udrih can share the floor with Ish Smith off the bench.
KCP is Detroit’s top perimeter defender, but if he has to miss a game you can’t do better than face the Sixers who will be without their top player in Joel Embiid. With Embiid, the Sixers are an intriguing young team with a stifling defense. Without him, well, they’re the Sixers you’ve seen for the past few years.