Kings at Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are fighting for the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference but are moving in the wrong direction thanks to a defense struggling to plug several holes. The Pistons will try to avoid a three-game slide when they host another defensively challenged team in the Sacramento Kings on Friday.
Detroit allowed a total of 242 points in the last two games and has surrendered at least 111 in each of the last four contests. Three of those four games resulted in losses – all against teams fighting for playoff position in the East – and the Pistons get a break in the schedule with each of the next four games on a nine-game homestand that began Wednesday coming against teams with losing records. The Kings own the worst scoring defense in the NBA with an average of 109.5 points allowed and could not slow down the New Orleans Pelicans in a 123-108 loss on Wednesday. That setback marked the 10th in the last 12 games for Sacramento, which is dealing with a depleted backcourt.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, CSN California (Sacramento), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE KINGS (26-41): Sacramento was without Rajon Rondo (thumb), Ben McLemore (finger) and Marco Belinelli (ankle) on Wednesday but did not lack for scoring in the backcourt on Wednesday as Darren Collison, James Anderson and Seth Curry combined for 51 points. Anderson had played a total of nine minutes in the previous seven games but stepped into the starting lineup and delivered 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting in 34 minutes. The problem was on the other end, where the Kings allowed the now 25-42 Pelicans to shoot 54.4 percent from the field, including 12-of-21 from 3-point range.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (34-34): Detroit relies on guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to guard the other team’s best perimeter player, but coach Stan Van Gundy is looking for someone else in the lineup to step up on the defensive end. “I can’t find any answers, we’re just not guarding,” Van Gundy told reporters after a 118-114 loss to Atlanta on Wednesday. “I mean their point guards killed us, 40 points and 16 assists. We can’t have Pope guard everybody. Somebody else has got to guard someone on the court.” That loss actually marked a step forward from Monday’s performance, when the Pistons were crushed 124-81 at Washington.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pistons G Reggie Jackson is 1-of-9 from 3-point range in the last two games.
2. Collison is 23-of-38 from the field in the last three games.
3. Sacramento snapped a five-game losing streak in the series with a 101-92 home win on Nov. 11.