Jackson stars with 20 points and 20 assists, Pistons beat Grizzlies
Pending restricted free agent guard Reggie Jackson got his wish when the Oklahoma City Thunder traded him to the Detroit Pistons at the deadline, finding the starting point guard job he desired and the chance to become a foundational component instead of a useful piece. Unfortunately for Jackson, the early results in the Motor City have not been good. The Pistons won just one of his first 11 games with the team — the first one, vs. the Washington Wizards — as Jackson himself struggled to averages of 14.3 ppg on 37.1 percent shooting and 6.6 assists against 3.3 turnovers per game. The only thing that went right for Jackson was that he got more shots than he did with OKC, although it’s hard to know if Detroit liked that enough to offer or match the lucrative deal he will surely seek this summer.
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A single game will not undo the past several weeks, but Jackson put forth a very impressive performance against the formidable Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills. He finished with 23 points (10-of-18 shooting) and 20 assists (with only two turnovers) for just the second 20-point, 20-assist game in the NBA this season — the other belonged to fellow Pistons point guard Brandon Jennings, now out for the foreseeable future due to a torn Achilles tendon. Not surprisingly, the Pistons won 105-95 in their most impressive victory of the as-yet very brief Jackson era.
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Take a look at the highlights from the Pistons’ win and Jackson’s excellent night:
As our Dan Devine noted at the time of Jennings’s 20/20 game, the NBA hadn’t seen a 20-point, 20-assist line since Steve Nash did it for the Phoenix Suns
in November 2009. So it’s a little odd that it happened twice in one season by two different players for the same team.
Based on that coincidence, it would seem possible, if not necessarily likely, for there to be some commonalities between the two games. Jackson’s excellence may have occurred in part due to the absence of big man Greg Monroe, out after sustaining a knee injury in practice Monday. With outside shooter taking the place of the more interior-minded Monroe, Jackson had much more space to maneuver and saw benefits for at least one night. And while Monroe was active and started in Jennings’s big game, that contest occurred at a time when head coach Stan Van Gundy played Monroe and center Andre Drummond together less often with more four-out lineups. If Monroe bolts in unrestricted free agency this summer, then the Pistons have reason to see some positive in his departure.
At the same time, this take is more correlation than causation. For now, it is likely more prudent simply to acknowledge that Jackson proved that he can lead the Pistons against an excellent team as a primary creator. It’s a meaningful accomplishment in the context of his prior struggles.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
