Clippers at Pistons
Round one in the battle of dominant rebounders that struggle from the free-throw line went to Andre Drummond, but it was DeAndre Jordan’s team picking up the win. Drummond will try to guide his team to a victory this time when the Detroit Pistons host the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday.
Drummond, who averages 17.6 points and a league-leading 16.4 rebounds while shooting 36.6 from the line, collected 18 points and 19 rebounds in a 101-96 loss at Los Angeles on Nov. 14. Jordan, who averages 11 points and 13.4 boards while shooting 38.7 percent from the stripe, had 10 points and 16 rebounds but leaned on a stronger effort from the supporting cast in the last meeting. Drummond and the Pistons are winners of six of their last eight games and are coming off a 118-96 triumph over Indiana on Saturday, in which they shot 50 percent from the field. The Clippers improved to 5-5 on the road with Saturday’s 105-100 victory at Brooklyn and are winners of seven of the last nine overall.
TV: 7: 30 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (14-10): Jamal Crawford got a start in place of an injured Chris Paul and J.J. Redick in the last meeting and poured in a season-best 37 points while Blake Griffin added 34 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Paul and Redick have dealt with some nagging injuries over the first six weeks but are both relatively healthy at the moment and combined for 36 points while Paul handed out 14 assists on Saturday. “We’re starting to trust. We’re going to our sets down the stretch,” Paul told reporters. “…Two guys on you, you give it up and trust that another guy is going to make the right play.”
ABOUT THE PISTONS (14-11): Drummond failed to record a double-double for just the fourth time this season when he finished with eight points and 11 rebounds on Saturday, but the rest of the team was there to pick up the slack. Marcus Morris and Ersan Ilyasova are stretching the floor from the forward spots and combined to go 4-of-8 from 3-point range on Saturday. Morris is 8-of-13 from 3-point range over the last four games while Ilyasova buried at least one from beyond the arc in each of the last eight contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Clippers are winners of nine straight in the series.
2. Detroit G Kentavious Caldwell-Pope recorded at least three steals in each of the last five contests.
3. Crawford is averaging 6.3 points over the last three games after putting up an average of 22 in the previous three.