After a rare bump in the road, the Detroit Pistons will be out to regain their stride against the suddenly resurgent Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday at Inglewood, Calif.
The Pistons dropped a shootout Friday, losing 131-129 on the road against the Utah Jazz. It was the most points Detroit has allowed in a loss this season, although they have allowed 135 points in a pair of victories.
Cade Cunningham scored 29 points for the Pistons but missed the potential game-winner at the buzzer. He added 17 assists, 13 of which came in the first half.
Detroit trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half and nine with 9:12 remaining before making it interesting. Cunningham scored 12 points in the fourth quarter alone.
The Pistons fell into their deep hole by allowing 44 points in the third quarter, while committing 14 fouls, after allowing 67 points in the first half.
“Discipline, execution, commitment to who we are,” Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said about issues that plagued his team in the third quarter in particular. “Forty-four points in a quarter is unacceptable. I know we ask a lot of our guys and most nights they give it to us. (It) was one of those nights where we were loose from the start.”
Despite the loss, the Pistons still have won seven of their last nine games, but they are 9-5 since a 13-game winning streak that ended just before Thanksgiving.
While the Pistons still have single digit losses (seven), the Clippers still have single digits in wins (nine). Los Angeles is showing signs of life, though, while on a season-best three-game winning streak.
The Clippers ended a five-game losing streak with a 103-88 victory over the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers last weekend then earned victories over the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers.
James Harden scored 34 points in Los Angeles’ 119-103 victory at Portland on Friday. It was tied for his fifth most in a game this season. Brook Lopez scored a season-best 31 points on 9-of-14 shooting from 3-point range, and Kawhi Leonard added 28 points.
While defense was the Clippers’ name of the game last season under head coach Tyronn Lue and assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy, they are merely middle of the pack by allowing 115.3 points per game this season.
But they have been much improved of late, allowing 99.7 points over their winning streak.
“Any time we put on this jersey, you got to compete and try to win a basketball game,” Leonard said. “And that’s what I’m taking priority in. I think everybody else is too. Win, lose, or draw, just going out there, trying to follow their game plan and just try to execute as much as we can. We don’t have a give-up mentality, even though the record looks like that, but like I say, we got to compete.”
Lopez’s nine made 3-pointers were a career-high and the second-most by a center in NBA history. He has been starting in place of the injured Ivica Zubac (ankle).
