Kentavious Caldwell-Pope takes over to send game to overtime

Kentavius Caldwell-Pope carried the Detroit Pistons to overtime with his clutch play in a win over the Charlotte Hornets Thursday night.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is one of those guys that’s pretty easy to forget when naming off random NBA players. He’s spent the early parts of his career hidden on the Detroit Pistons roster not doing too much.

He’s a shooter that couldn’t shoot very well until this season, but with his jump shot finally coming around he’s turning into a pretty solid player — just the type of guy a coach like Stan Van-Gundy can rely on to carry late game situations.

Tonight against the Charlotte Hornets, he did just that. With the Pistons storming back into the game, Charlotte was desperately trying to hold on to their increasingly slim lead. Caldwell-Pope had already been playing great up to that point, and with the game on the line he did just what was needed to send the game into overtime.

First, he sliced through the Hornets’ defense on the way to a monster dunk. Then he hit the biggest shot of the game, a 3-pointer that would eventually send it to overtime.

A collapse by Charlotte is an opportunity gained for Caldwell-Pope. Lots of players are given chances to make big shots, but not many of them can do it consistently enough to win.

Marco Belinelli, for example, had a chance to win the game for Charlotte on the ensuing possession, but his 3-pointer didn’t fall, leading to overtime. In the ensuing overtime, the Pistons hit all the big shots while Charlotte crumbled.

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When he was needed, Caldwell-Pope hit the big shot that led to a huge come-from-behind victory for the Pistons. Detroit has not had the most successful season this year, but if they can steal games like this then maybe they can get their season back on track and clinch a playoff spot.