Nets 87, Pistons 83
NEW YORK -- Forward Thaddeus Young scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, leading the Brooklyn Nets to a sluggish, come-from-behind 87-83 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night at the Barclays Center.
Nets center Brook Lopez shook off a horrid start to score 15 points, including one clutch free throw with 29.8 seconds left.
The win was just the third in the last nine games for the Nets (4-13) and snapped a three-game losing streak. The Pistons (8-9) lost their second game in a row.
Brooklyn trailed for most of the game but came storming back in the fourth quarter, erasing a 10-point deficit in the process. Guard Wayne Ellington, who played sparingly in the first half, keyed the 13-2 run that gave the Nets the lead for good. Playing on his 28th birthday, Ellington scored all 12 of his points in the second half.
Forward Joe Johnson added 13 points, and guard Jarrett Jack had 11 for the winners.
The Pistons got 20 points and 18 rebounds from center Andre Drummond, his 15th double-double in 17 games.
Guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope paced the Pistons with 21 points. Forward Stanley Johnson added 10 off the bench, but the Pistons were hurt by an off night from guard Reggie Jackson, who connected on an uncharacteristic four of 20 from the floor.
The Pistons took control of the game midway through the second quarter and held a 41-35 halftime lead, thanks to eight different Detroit players making their way into the scorebook.
The Pistons increased the lead in the third period, thanks to the acrobatic play of Drummond, who collected an alley-oop pass to dunk over Jack, then made a steal and drive to score a three-point play to give Detroit its biggest lead at 58-48 with 5:18 remaining in the third.
Drummond also had an amazing three offensive rebounds in one sequence, showing his domination on the backboards.
Lopez struggled mightily against Drummond in the early going, misfiring on 12 of his first 14 shots from the floor, adding to Brooklyn's malaise.
At one point, the Pistons were shooting 34 percent from the floor, 27 percent from 3-point range and 43 percent from the free throw line -- and still led by 10.
Nets guard Bojan Bogdanovic scored five straight points on a corner 3-pointer, then a steal and breakaway one-handed slam dunk that cut the Pistons' lead to 58-55 with 3:30 left in the third period.
Detroit guard Steve Blake, who was property of the Nets for a brief time last summer, made two long-range shots, a 3-pointer and a 2-pointer, that enabled the Pistons to push the lead to 67-59 after three periods.
Guard Shane Larkin drained a 3-pointer from the corner to give the Nets a 79-76 lead with 4:40 remaining, then Young canned a jumper from the free-throw line, pushing the advantage to 81-76 with 4:15 left.
NOTES: The Pistons were once again without G Brandon Jennings (torn left Achilles tendon) and G Jodie Meeks (right foot fracture). ... Detroit has started the same five players (Drummond, G Reggie Jackson, G Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, F Ersan Ilyasova and F Marcus Morris) in all 17 games this season. ... Nets C Brook Lopez is one of only two players averaging more than 20 points and eight rebounds per game this season. The other is Pelicans PF Anthony Davis. ... The Nets avoided their second losing streak of at least four game this season. They dropped the first seven games of this season before gaining a win at Houston on Nov. 11.