Pistons look to halt slide vs. Nets
The Detroit Pistons haven't won since their last game against the Brooklyn Nets. The Pistons will try to end their four-game slide against the same opponent.
Andre Drummond and Tobias Harris scored 22 points apiece in Detroit's 114-80 victory at Brooklyn on Jan. 10. The Pistons will likely need big games again from that duo on Sunday afternoon after falling to .500 in the standings. They have lost to four Eastern Conference teams -- the Chicago Bulls, Charlotte Hornets, Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards -- during the losing streak.
Defensive breakdowns have been common. The Raptors were the only team that didn't shoot at least 48.3 percent against Detroit during that stretch. The Wizards shot 50 percent and scored 45 third-quarter points in their 122-112 win at Little Caesars Arena on Friday.
"Our guys coming off the bench to start the second quarter just were not ready for the pressure that their bench guys brought," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said. "The third quarter, I really don't know what the problem was."
When point guard Reggie Jackson was healthy, Van Gundy said that he needed his best players -- Drummond, Jackson, Harris and Avery Bradley -- to play well consistently to have a strong season. With Jackson out until the All-Star break due to an ankle injury, Van Gundy has amended his path to success.
"We've got to play great defense, which we have at times," he said. "The Toronto game, the quality of defense in that game is good enough to win. That's the number one thing. (Friday), our defense wasn't good enough to give us a chance. And then Tobias and Avery have got to play well, Ish (Smith) has got to create shots for people and quite honestly, we have got to make threes."
It goes without saying the Pistons need big games from Drummond but even that doesn't guarantee anything. He's averaged 19.5 points, 19.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.0 steals the past two games.
Brooklyn has dropped six of its last eight, but ended a three-game losing streak by edging the Miami Heat 101-95 on Friday. Starting small forward DeMarre Carroll tied his career high with 26 points.
The Nets rallied for a 16-point, second-half deficit.
"We really locked down defensively," Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. "That's a good team, that's a top-four team in the East, they're playing really well. We struggled big time in the first half, did not look great, but I think we held them to 16 points in that third quarter and that kind of changed the game."
Brooklyn got a little boost from guard D'Angelo Russell. He didn't make a field goal while playing 14 minutes after missing the previous 32 games following knee surgery. But he did give the Nets a defensive spark.
"Limited minutes, but it was great," Russell said. "All numbers aside, I don't know how you want to put it, but just being out there was really my main focus."
The Pistons and Nets will have two games remaining in their four-game series after Sunday. Brooklyn will return to Detroit on Feb. 7 and the Pistons will visit New York again on April 1.
