Kings at Pistons
The Detroit Pistons seek their first home win in nearly a month when they host the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday. The Pistons sandwiched an 0-3 homestand between a pair of long road trips in the past several weeks, capping a 2-1 trip with a 106-100 loss at Washington on Monday.
"We lost this game defensively, bro," guard Derrick Rose told reporters after Detroit was denied its first three-game winning streak of the season. "Second half, we just let them get anywhere on the court that they wanted." Rose scored 21 points to lead the way for the Pistons, who have just one home victory in their last nine tries as they open a four-game stay at Little Caesars Arena. The Kings have dropped five in a row and 14 of their last 17, but they gave the host Miami Heat all they could handle Monday before falling 118-113 in overtime. All five starters scored in double figures but Sacramento moved to 4-12 against Eastern Conference opponents.
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: NBCS California, FS Detroit
ABOUT THE KINGS (15-28): Sacramento attempted a franchise-record 51 3-pointers in the loss at Miami, which saw the squad lose a six-point lead in the final two minutes of regulation and then go the last two-plus minutes of overtime without a point. "This is like the sixth game we had like this, up by two or up by three and lost the game," guard Buddy Hield told reporters. "It's depressing but it's basketball. You have to figure out ways to win." Nemanja Bjelica led the way with 22 points and he is averaging 18 while making 18-of-35 3-pointers over the last six games.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (16-28): Center Andre Drummond had 18 points and 16 rebounds Monday but committed a season-high nine turnovers to bump his average in that department to 3.6 - tops among centers. "We can't have our center having nine turnovers," coach Dwane Casey told reporters. "We want him to get the ball in to Rose. He's got to make decisions, and he's done a good job of that, but tonight he did not. And normally he and our bigs do a good job of catching it, kicking it out and making a play and not turning it over." Both Rose and Drummond could get some help in the distribution department with the pending return of point guard Reggie Jackson (back), who hasn't played since the second game of the season but should be in the lineup this week.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Sacramento is expecting to have SG Kent Bazemore and PF Anthony Tolliver, acquired from Portland in a five-player trade, to join the team this week, perhaps by Tuesday.
2. Pistons SF Sekou Doumbouya has a total of 10 points on 3-of-15 shooting over his last two games after scoring a career-high 24 on 10-of-13 shooting in a win at Boston on Wednesday.
3. Hield scored 35 points to lead Sacramento to a comeback 103-101 win at Detroit in 2018-19 to finish a two-game season series sweep.