Van Gundy rips Drummond's Game 3 performance

Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy looked and sounded exasperated after his team lost Friday night to fall into an 0-3 hole in their first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He seemed particularly vexed by center Andre Drummond, in part because of Drummond's performance in Game 3, and in part because of the longstanding free-throw shooting woes that make him a liability down the stretch in close games.

Drummond, who shot 1-of-6 from the line in the game and is now an unthinkable 6-of-24 in the series, is always susceptible to the Hack-A strategy. Van Gundy was asked after the game why he yanked his star center in the waning minutes as the Pistons tried to mount a comeback, and he didn't mince words.

"Because you can't do anything with him," Van Gundy said. "He can't run to set a screen, he can't do anything. You've just got opportunities to foul him. ... We can't go down and play for zero points."

Van Gundy didn't stop there, though, going on to criticize Drummond's overall effort level.

"He had energy, but Tristan Thompson had eight offensive rebounds, so, hardly a dominant performance," the coach said. "He had offensive energy."

The Pistons will try to stave off elimination in Game 4 on Sunday night.