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That’s more like it: Pistons crisp in smashing Bucks 117-88 for first preseason win

MILWAUKEE – Stan Van Gundy called the Pistons “selfish” for their turnover-filled loss to Brooklyn when they were held to 83 points. The focus of Friday’s practice: ball movement. All fixes should come that easy.

The Pistons turned it over just four times in Saturday’s first half – they had 18 in the first half 48 hours earlier – and built a 28-point lead before halftime in cruising to a 117-88 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

One first-quarter possession typified the game. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope drove the left baseline to get under the basket, firing a pass to an open Stanley Johnson at the 3-point line near the Pistons bench. The ball spent about a half-second in his hands before he redirected it to Reggie Jackson at the top of the key, who in turn spun it to an open Marcus Morris on the other wing, no Milwaukee defender within 10 feet of him. Morris launched a 3-pointer – swish! – and the Pistons led 17-9, off and running.

It was contagious from there.

“It’s always like that,” Caldwell-Pope said. “Once the ball is moving each play, everybody touching it, it gets contagious. Everybody wants to move the ball and get the open shot. We looked for the open shot tonight.”

The Pistons finished with 25 assists, eight apiece from point guards Reggie Jackson and Spencer Dinwiddie.

“I’ve got to be the one that gets the ball moving and attack,” Jackson said. “Get the team to understand we’re going to attack, but we’re going to share it, as well.”

“What they created tonight is a blueprint of how we want to play,” Van Gundy said. “Now the challenge is to play like that night in and night out. The defenses will get better, but to continue to play like that is the challenge.”

Their offensive acumen didn’t come at the expense of their defense, either. The Pistons held Milwaukee to 42 percent shooting and forced 22 turnovers.

“I think we started on the defensive end first and that just carried to the offense,” Caldwell-Pope said. “That gave us the step we needed on the offensive end – drive the lane, kick to the open player the whole night. We looked for our shot first but when it wasn’t there we just threw it to the opposite side.”

Morris was just one beneficiary of that ball movement, finishing with 21 points while knocking down 8 of 10 shots. He’s shown an effective mid-range shot and also the ability to put the ball on the floor to create shots for himself, though nobody had to do much of the one-on-one stuff against the Bucks, who fashioned the biggest turnaround in the NBA last season to make the playoffs on the strength of their defense and added ex-Piston Greg Monroe in free agency over the summer.

“I think they knew what they were playing against,” Van Gundy said. “That’s a great defensive team. They were going to have to play together. You’re not going to beat them playing one on one. I thought our ball movement was outstanding. I was really, really happy with that.”

“That’s something we focused on,” Jackson said. “Just playing unselfishly, especially playing a team like this. You’ve got to make them move, make the ball go from side to side. If you keep it on one side, their length is really going to bother you. We knew it was going to be a tough task, but we came out here with the right mindset. We worked on it yesterday and I think it showed tonight.”

The Pistons were so crisp, the reality is they could have had more than 117 points. They were only 29 of 43 at the foul line – the 43 attempts another result of their ball movement and attacking mentality – and almost all of their 30 3-point attempts were quality looks that might have resulted in more than 12 makes on a better shooting night.

“That was fun to actually see how fast the ball can move and how much time you really have on the clock,” Jackson said. “We got great shots. We even felt good about the ones that didn’t go in. It’s something we have to build on, but I think we’re starting to learn how to play the right way.”

The Pistons wound up with seven players in double figures, including three off their bench. Reggie Bullock finished with 14 points as Van Gundy went with him instead of Jodie Meeks as the backup shooting guard to get a good look at Bullock – looking like the leader in the battle for the final roster spot – in the mix with his other rotation players.

Andre Drummond was one of those seven despite playing just 20 minutes, finishing with 17 points and seven boards as he matched up with former teammate Greg Monroe. Drummond ran the floor hard in both directions, getting rewarded by Jackson with a couple of pinpoint passes, and had very active hands defensively.

“That’s the quarterback of our defense,” Jackson said. “I know I have to bring the intensity out front, but he’s going to be the one to quarterback everything. He can see everything that’s going on. He’s doing a great job. Light on his feet, like a guard. We expect great things out of him.”

“Andre had great energy, was running the floor, which I thought was really, really good,” Van Gundy said.

Pretty hard to find something that wasn’t good from this one, the blueprint they’ll carry with them through Stan Van Gundy’s second Pistons season.