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Van Gundy takes ‘careful’ approach to emptying bench

Rod Beard
The Detroit News

Auburn Hills — In the waning moments of Monday night’s 113-96 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, the Pistons fans were getting impatient.

Several “We want Bob-an!” chants rang out from the crowd at The Palace.

They got louder and louder as the final minutes ticked away.

Coach Stan Van Gundy was either too focused on the game or chose to ignore them.

Boban Marjanovic, the 7-foot-4 reserve center who has become a fan favorite, stayed on the bench, never to enter the game. Neither did Darrun Hilliard or Beno Udrih.

The only bench player out of the main rotation who got playing time was rookie Michael Gbinije, who got in for the last three minutes.

It’s a measured strategy by Van Gundy, who isn’t one to just throw players in the final minutes of lopsided games just to soak up the final minutes.

“I put Mike in the game. As the minutes go down, it gets hard to go in at 2:45. With a rookie, you don’t worry about it — that’s part of their job,” Van Gundy said Tuesday. “With the other guys, I do. The time passed to get those other guys in. You’re at 6- or 7-minute mark and they have a chance to go in and play.

“You’re at 2:47 and it’s just tough. I’ll do it when absolutely necessary to get guys out the game or with rookies. I won’t do it with veteran-type guys very much at 2:45.”

It’s partly a respect thing and partly a measured strategy.

Although fans want to get a glimpse of some of the lesser-seen players at the end of blowout games, it’s not quite that simple. For the most part, those players have been sitting on the bench for most of the game — and to ask them to get in the game and protect a lead isn’t easy.

The action in some of those final minutes is scattered and messy — think of the final minutes of a game in high school or college — and it’s a chance in the NBA for the other team to turn things around quickly if the reserves aren’t ready for the challenge.

“It’s hard to play in those circumstances, so I’m a little careful about it. If it’s six minutes to go, it’s a different thing,” Van Gundy said. “I lean more toward not taking chances with games. The one thing you’ve seen is games change. You see more and more because the scoring is up and the 3-point shooting is up that big leads disappear quickly in this league.

“You’re up 18 with six minutes to go — that’s not time.”

Van Gundy said he’s asked Udrih, a 12-year NBA veteran, if he wants to go into games in the final minutes when the margin is so lopsided. Udrih agreed, but it’s not something to do lightly. Besides that, it’s even harder to ask the regulars to get back in the game when a lead starts to evaporate.

“It happens a lot now in this league,” Van Gundy said. “What you consider leads where you can just start pulling guys out are not, in my opinion, leads where you can pull guys out. You start unloading your bench with a lot of guys who’ve just sat there and they’re stiff and the other team starts hitting a couple 3s and all of a sudden it’s a game. You’ve got to be careful.”

Gbinije’s journey

After Gbinije scored 29 points in his last D-League game with the Grand Rapids Drive, he got some rare playing time with the Pistons on Tuesday.

And on Thursday, it’ll likely be another stint back to the Drive, after Wednesday’s game against the Lakers.

“We’re trying to get them (Gbinije and Henry Ellenson) a lot of work,” Van Gundy explained. “You can see the difference out here. Both were good today in practice, because they’ve had a chance to play; it’s really helped them.”

Slam dunk

Reggie Bullock, who missed Monday’s game because of an illness, practiced fully on Tuesday. Andre Drummond, who took an elbow to the ribs in the final minutes, also practiced.

Rod.Beard@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @detnewsRodBeard

L.A. Lakers at Pistons

Tipoff: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, The Palace of Auburn Hills

TV/radio: FSD/WMGC

Outlook: The Pistons won the first meeting, 102-97, on Jan. 15, ending their 11-game losing streak in Los Angeles. The Lakers (18-36) have the second-worst road record (6-23) in the league.