Re-energized Pistons roll past hurting 76ers

Detroit dominates after Van Gundy calls out Jackson

Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy wanted to get more energy from his first unit, especially Reggie Jackson. So, he used a new approach Saturday to Jackson’s minutes and it produced highoctane results.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 13 of his 26 points in Detroit’s dominating third quarter, and the visiting Pistons set a season high for points while rolling to a 136106 win against Philadelphia.

A day after Van Gundy told reporters he wanted to see more energy from his starting point guard, Jackson had 21 points while playing in sixminute segments.

“The energy in that first unit has not been very good,” Van Gundy said. “It’s certainly not all on [Jackson] but they sort of follow the point guard, so let’s get the pace up a little bit and attack. He was better with that tonight.”

Van Gundy reasoned that lessening Jackson’s minutes would allow him to go all-out while he’s playing. “eally push himself defensively and try to get the pace of the game up on offense,” Van Gundy said. “Let it loose a little more.”

The Pistons, holding the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, had lost two of three, including a 109-86 drubbing Wednesday at New Orleans that resulted in Van Gundy calling out Jackson.

Already short-handed due to the loss of Joel Embiid (knee) and No. 1 pick Ben Simmons (foot) for the season, Philadelphia was without center Jahlil Okafor (knee) while playing the second game of a back-to-back.

“When you have a really good team against nine guys in a back-to-back situation, it’s a perfect storm,” Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said.

Other games

Heat 120, Cavaliers 92: Goran Dragic had 23 points as host Miami beat Cleveland.

Bucks 101, Raptors 94: Khris Middleton scored a season-high 24 points as Milwaukee beat visiting Toronto.

Clippers 101, Bulls 91: Jamal Crawford had 25 points coming off the bench and Chris Paul added 17 as visiting Los Angeles won.