Video: Brandon Jennings Shows Some Flair In Pistons Debut

During a Sunday that saw the Detroit Pistons take on Brad Stevens‘ winless Celtics team, Brandon Jennings officially debuted as Detroit’s new point guard. He was wearing a mask to help protect his impacted wisdom tooth, but the mask looked as fierce as Jennings’ game yesterday, and the Pistons needed him against the woeful Celtics.

With most of the team’s offense situated below the foul line extended, defenses are going to pack the paint against this Detroit team. The three frontcourt players are the team; just look at this eerily similar stat line:

The Josh Smith-Greg Monroe-Andre Drummond trio accounted for the majority of Detroit’s offense, but as Vince Ellis noted in the Detroit Free Press, Jennings’ big fourth quarter was the difference in the game. He dropped eight of his 14 points in the final 12-min session while also dishing for three assists and snatching three steals.

The Pistons had gained a 10-point advantage at the half, but had lost half of it in the third, and Boston appeared to be making a full comeback before Jennings stopped them in their tracks. The C’s had a 2-point lead inside of 11 minutes after a couple of Jared Sullinger free throws, but Jennings scored six of the 10 next Celtics points as they went on a 10-0 run. The C’s stormed back again, getting their deficit back to two inside of two minutes, but Jennings came up with a big steal that helped secure the win.

Still, it was his flashy passing and finishing in transition that gets him some DAP from us. At one point, going against the tough defense of Avery Bradley, Jennings actually fell down when Bradley inadvertently pulled the chair out from him in the post. Jennings still managed to find J-Smoove for the bucket while lying on the ground.

Then there was this tricky little fake-pass in transition that netted Jennings his first bucket as a Piston.

So far so good for Jennings, but there’s a long season ahead, and they really need him to settle the heavily tilted half-court presence inside with his perimeter shooting and swiping.

What do you think?

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