First of all, you can’t enter Christmas bitter, so let’s acknowledge we were 5-23 at this point last year and similar (4-20 ish?) the season before. SO, being 17-13 or whatever is a solid starting point, for sure.

How did we earn those early wins? By playing hard, notably on defense. We’re becoming a little soft. Stan Van pointed out that since our offense has started to blossom, we stopped giving the effort at the other end. This is a nightmare.

You know how fast we’ll get back to the bottom of the East without defense? This isn’t the West, and we’re not good enough to rely on jump shooting. Not to mention the slap to the face of our athleticism it is. When Andre Drummond went to the bench because of the intentional fouling, we needed Reggie Jackson to step up and not stop attacking. This gear must be shifted into more in order to succeed in the Eastern Conference.

Now, it’s time to let Van Gundy have it. There was no reason to bench Drummond last night. The condescension has to leave Fat Van’s voice, unless he liked what happened in Orlando with Dwight. This is the second time I’ve had to bring this up and I refuse to watch him belittle a hard-worker like ‘Dre, he’s not a pussy Jesus freak like Howard. Respect him or lose him, coach.

This guy will never stop applying pressure on defense. And the free throw shooting is so psychological; the way Gundy demanded he improve in his press conference was so passive aggressive: really, you’re not going to play him? The most dominant big man in decades? He would have gotten better had the game wore on, not to mention the deficit was minuscule.

Instead, when he pulled him, the Hawks went on a huge run to end the half and essentially win the game. The swagger was shot, it was like he was admitting defeat. Just like he did at the end not fouling anymore.

It’s important to remember what a tremendous first half we’ve had, but also to know how we got there: DEFENSE. Early on, we couldn’t buy a bucket (like the opener vs. Atlanta), but we played so damn hard we kept finding ways to win.

I’d rather go down playing nasty and taking nothing for granted than being cute or perfect from beyond the arc. THIS IS DETROIT!

Merry Christmas everybody.