Pistons at Bucks final score: Both teams played hard, Pistons fall short 104-100

The Pistons fell short on the road to the Milwaukee Bucks 104-100 Wednesday evening, running their losing streak to four.

While the Bucks tried to sneak away from the Pistons a couple of times in the second half, the Pistons wouldn’t go away, closing the game to within three at least once during the final couple of minutes. Eventually the lack of playmaking and bench production caught up to Detroit and the Bucks made just enough tough plays and free throws.

Let’s get to some of the individual performances.

Stanley Johnson

Stanley read some plays quite nicely with heady passes and was active for 34 minutes, although not all that activity was quite the type of productivity a team needs on either side of the ball. In eight attempts Stanley failed to cash in on a single shot. And Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t exactly struggle making plays on offense in this one.

Andre Drummond

Besides the 3-for-8 from the foul line, Andre was excellent in most facets (defense was a mixed bag). He scored 27 and corralled 20 rebounds and dished six dimes. Plus, Andre was doing stellar offensive things during crunch time and it was fun to see. However, the Pistons didn’t really have a ton of other confident options at that point.

Tobias Harris

Came alive a bit in the third by hitting shots from all over. Finished with 21 points on just 14 shots - with just four shot attempts in the fourth quarter. He battled on defense with mixed results.

I don’t know about that last play call with seven seconds left and down four, but Stan Van Gundy didn’t put Tobias in a great spot there. Quality defense by Giannis though.

Avery Bradley

Saw some shooting life from Avery with 3-for-5 from downtown and 7-for-8 from the free throw line. Though, he didn’t give the team much else in this one.

Reggie Jackson

Came out pretty aggressive, but just didn’t have much going on when it counted the most. Ended up 5-for-14 from the field.

Eric Moreland

Got a board right under the hoop in traffic late in the third but got locked up and tried to pass it back out and was called for a travel. Overall, Eric grabbed three offensive rebounds and scored three points to go with a couple of turnovers. If the rest of the bench was going gangbusters, you could live with Eric’s lack of offense. But the bench isn’t going gangbusters very much these days.

Luke Kennard

Hit a couple of shots in the first half but didn’t hear from him in the field goal department the rest of the way. Made an aggressive move to the basket in the third but the shot wouldn’t go down.

Anthony Tolliver

Shot 1-for-8 from the field (a few very ugly attempts) – and for the last three games he’s shooting 2-for-14. Won’t get it done anywhere. The bench needs shot making at a better clip. Maybe Henry Ellenson can get another opportunity to share bench minutes with Tolliver depending on matchups and situations.

Ish Smith

No assists for Ish and his shot selection could have been wiser. Just no rhythm for Ish or the entire bench in this one.

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It’s not time to panic. Really, I mean that. Let’s see what comes of this three-game homestand that begins Friday with the Stephen Curry-less Warriors and has the Celtics and Nuggets round it out.

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