Pistons at Suns
The Detroit Pistons are one loss from tying their franchise record for consecutive defeats, a distinction they’ll try to avoid when they travel to the Phoenix Suns on Friday. The Pistons have lost 13 straight, one short of the club record set in 1979-80 and tied in 1993-94. The Suns have lost three in a row for the first time this season, though two came on the second half of back-to-back games and the other on a Hail Mary 3-pointer by Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Pistons haven’t been throwing in the towel during their losing streak, as none of the recent losses have been by more than 16 points, including two that went to overtime and two others that were settled by two points. One of those was an 88-86 loss to the Suns three weeks ago in Detroit, a game didn’t feature many style points but showed Phoenix can clamp down on the defensive end. Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Jennings were the most entertaining matchup that night as Jennings finished with 19 points for the Pistons and Bledsoe of the Suns had 18, but the point guards were a combined 1-for-11 from 3-point range.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona (Phoenix), FSN Detroit Plus
ABOUT THE PISTONS (3-19): Jennings is known for being a streaky shooter but rarely has he been this cold for this long, shooting 16.7 over the last five games and missing all 12 of his 3-point attempts. He’s one of the reasons Detroit sits at the bottom of the league in team field goal percentage (40.4), but he’s definitely not alone in the blame. Two other starters are shooting below that mark as Josh Smith is at 38.1 percent on the season and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is at 37.5.
ABOUT THE SUNS (12-11): Bledsoe recorded his first career triple-double on Monday against the Clippers then came back with a dud in Tuesday’s loss to the visiting Miami Heat. Bledsoe displayed that inconsistency during the first three weeks of the season then strung together eight straight games with at least 13 points before Tuesday’s four-point performance. Keep an eye on forward Marcus Morris as he’s coming off a career-high 25 points against the Heat and is 8-for-11 from 3-point range in his last two games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Suns haven’t lost four in a row since November 2013.
2. Phoenix F Markieff Morris started the season 11-for-49 from 3-point range but is 4-for-9 in the last two games.
3. Detroit is off to its worst 22-game start in franchise history.