Tony Parker, D.J. Augustin

D.J. Augustin is the Pistons' new starting point guard after an injury to Brandon Jennings.

(AP File Photo)

MILWAUKEE - Moving into the starting lineup after a teammate gets injured is nothing new for D.J. Augustin.

He did it last season for the Chicago Bulls when former MVP Derrick Rose was on the shelf and now he's going to be assuming Brandon Jennings' role in the Detroit Pistons' starting lineup.

Augustin became the Pistons' starting point guard Saturday night, when Jennings went down with an injury to his left leg with 1:03 left in Detroit's 101-86 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center.

The Pistons didn't know the extent of the injury - Jennings didn't accompany the team to Toronto Saturday night and will return to Detroit today to be evaluated - but coach Stan Van Gundy said he won't play vs. the Raptors would be out "for the foreseeable future."

That puts Augustin in charge of directing the Pistons' offense.

"Like you said, next man up," said Augustin, who started three games back in November when Jennings was out with a sprained thumb. "I'm just trying to prepare myself and get ready. I know my whole team is.

"When you say next guy up, it's not just me. It's the whole team. Every guy has to step up and fulfill their role. Spencer (Dinwiddie) is getting an opportunity and that's what this NBA is about, opportunity."

Augustin averaged 13.3 points and 6.3 assists during the three games he started, which came in the midst of the Pistons' 13-game losing streak.

For the season, he's averaging 8.4 points and 4.2 rebounds while shooting 38.4 percent in 44 games.

Augustin will be backed by Dinwiddie the little-used rookie from Colorado.

"D.J. has a bigger role," Van Gundy said. "He's a very capable guy. Spencer now will get a chance to play some. In every circumstance, there's always a silver lining. So we'll get to see more out of him."

Dinwiddie was the Pistons' second-round pick (38th overall) in last summer's NBA draft. He missed the second half of his junior season at Colorado with a torn ACL and has appeared in just nine games with the Pistons this season while also playing in the D-League.

He's averaging 3.1 points and 2.1 assists with the Pistons.

The Pistons were trailing 91-65 when Jennings got hurt.

They led 28-23 after the first quarter but allowed 40 points in the second to trail 63-49 at halftime and then watched the Bucks blow the game open with a 20-4 run to start the third quarter.

Jennings was leading the Pistons with 16 points when he went down.

"It wouldn't matter if we had Brandon or not," Van Gundy said. "If we're going to play like that, we're not beating anybody. If we're going to bring no energy to the game and we're not going to play together, we're not going to win.

"Look, they played a lot better than we did tonight and they played a lot harder. They had 33 assists, they obviously made all their shots but their ball movement was tremendous. They played with a lot greater energy and intensity. They turned us over 20 times.

"I was disappointed. I think our players were disappointed. We weren't ready to play at all. We couldn't match their intensity. We didn't play together the way they did. So that was an old-fashioned butt kicking right there in every aspect of the game."

The Bucks (22-21) took advantage of the Pistons' poor defense to shoot 50.6 percent and make 11 of 17 from 3-point range. They shot 53.2 percent in the first half, when many of their shots were uncontested.

O.J. Mayo led Milwaukee with 20 points, former Pistons Khris Middleton and Brandon Knight added 16 and 14, respectively, while Jared Dudley and John Henson had 12 apiece.

Jennings' 16 points topped the Pistons, who got 12 from Anthony Tolliver and 10 apiece from Andre Drummond and Caron Butler. Greg Monroe led both teams with 16 rebounds.

The Pistons (17-27) shot 36 percent and missed 19 of 25 shots from behind the 3-point line.

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