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Bullock punches up Pistons offense with 3-point threat, back-door cuts

AUBURN HILLS – Stan Van Gundy’s focus tilts more to defense as the Pistons’ salvation, but it wouldn’t hurt if their offensive punch ticked up a few notches, too.

Reggie Bullock reminded everyone in Wednesday’s blowout win over Atlanta how he can help check off that box.

It wasn’t just Bullock’s numbers, though 15 points, six rebounds and four assists represent a pretty good line – especially considering it was Bullock’s seventh game of the season and just his third since returning from a Nov. 23 knee injury.

It was the way Bullock’s savvy movement off the ball, his quick decision-making once it finds him and the threat his 3-point shot presents that helped grease an offense that has too often gotten stuck in neutral this season amid long stretches of stagnancy.

“I said tonight after the game, he’s only played seven games this year and he probably has more cutting baskets than the rest of our team combined,” Van Gundy said. “But you did see some other guys start to cut. I think he’s setting an example for people and he does a great job moving without the ball.”

Bullock opened eyes with an outstanding 2015 preseason, then slumped to start the regular season and was in mothballs for a few months. But he was a key figure off the bench in the Pistons’ playoff drive last season and expected to back up Kentavious Caldwell-Pope this season.

But back spasms – a derivative of a nerve issue in his leg that sidelined him during the playoffs last spring – set him back to start this season. And then came the knee injury which required surgery to repair meniscus damage.

Bullock’s return became more critical when Caldwell-Pope was injured in last week’s loss at Golden State, leaving four minutes into the game with a strained rotator cuff in his left shoulder. Bullock was away from the team for that game, attending to a personal matter, returning two days later and getting thrown into the mix a few hours after landing in Salt Lake City. He started the finale of the five-game road trip two nights later at Los Angeles and again on Wednesday.

“It helps speed the process up,” he said after logging 36 minutes. “This was pretty much the game that I was going to come back at. I’m just trying to take full advantage of the opportunity – bring high energy, defense, shooting to the team. With KCP being out, one of the team’s best defenders, doing some of the things he does, move without the ball. That’s what I tried to do tonight.”

In the first two minutes of the third quarter, first Reggie Jackson and then Andre Drummond found Bullock for easy layups as he beat his defender through the back door. It’s something he picked up during his first 1½ seasons with the Clippers, who drafted him in the first round in 2013 after Bullock’s junior season at North Carolina.

“I picked it up from Matt Barnes,” he said. “He was one of my vets when I was with the Clippers and I saw how he moved without the ball. I did it in college a little bit, but once I was drafted I was pretty much just a spot-up shooter. He was a player in front of me. Seeing him move without the ball and he was a guy who played for (Van Gundy, in Orlando), so just making those cuts and trying to get easy points.”

“He’s a great cutter, great shooter,” said Marcus Morris, the headliner in the deal that also brought Bullock from Phoenix in July 2015. “He moves the ball really well and he just knows how to play the game. He knows what Coach wants. It was easy to just plug him in.”

The Pistons hope Caldwell-Pope – and Jon Leuer, who’s missed the last five games with a right knee bone bruise – is back for Saturday’s game with Washington. With Stanley Johnson also rounding the corner, benefiting from added minutes due to Leuer’s absence, the Pistons might finally be at full strength. Bullock won’t be called on for many 36-minute stints when that happens, but his 3-point shooting and knack for facilitating offense will continue to serve as valued components.

“He adds a new dimension to us,” Van Gundy said. “He’s setting an example and playing a little different. Guys are like, ‘Wow, maybe if I cut I can get a layup, too.’ He’s a hard guy to guard because of that. We’ve been talking about it a lot with our team, but to have a guy who’s doing it and does it naturally, I think is a great example to our guys and will help us in the long run.”