Andre Drummond got so badly outplayed by Brook Lopez that I actually felt bad for him. Hearing those boos from his own fans as he got subbed out after another bad play made me sad. Yeah, he wasn’t really trying and he was throwing up the most garbage shots ever and Lopez was cooking him, but still. He’s still a human being, or whatever.
Lopez is not a good matchup for him, so much so that even with Giannis Antetokounmpo having one of his worst games of the season the Bucks won easily. Lopez turned Drummond into a non-factor, and with a slightly injured Blake Griffin being the only other Piston who could even pretend to impact the game, the Pistons had no chance. Who even needs Giannis? When you have a surprisingly mobile 7-foot monster (seriously, he’s like twice as thick as Thon maker) who can shoot from 40 feet OR pumpfake from 40 feet and lumber all the way to the basket AS WELL AS alter every shot in the paint on defense, you can get away with your star playing like a pubic hair.
I maintain that Lopez has been underutilized all season long. People forget how good he was with the Nets, because a lot of people didn’t ever watch the Nets while he was averaging 20 per game. We got a taste of the scoring moves he has in his arsenal outside of bombing threes, and it tasted good. It always does.