Nuggets at Pistons
The Detroit Pistons held three straight opponents under 90 points in three consecutive home wins but crashed on the road at Brooklyn on Tuesday. The Pistons will be happy to return home when the host the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.
Detroit allowed an average of 84.7 points in three straight home wins but bookended that streak by yielding 109 points in each of its two road setbacks. “We didn’t defend at all,” Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters after a 109-101 loss at Brooklyn on Wednesday. “And we didn’t have many people play well. Some of the guys’ numbers look good, but defensively we just didn’t bring it and we deserved to lose. We deserved to lose with what we brought tonight. We weren’t ready to play.” The Nuggets have yet to play a game decided by more than five points and suffered a pair of losses by a total of five points before surviving for a 102-99 win at Minnesota on Thursday. Denver is playing the third of a five-game road trip on Saturday and the first of a back-to-back before heading to Boston on Sunday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Altitude (Denver), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (2-2): Veteran point guard Jameer Nelson enjoyed his most productive game of the young season with 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in 34 minutes off the bench and Wilson Chandler added 19 points in 27 minutes as a reserve in a 102-99 win at Minnesota on Wednesday. The two veterans picked up the slack for a starting guard combination of 20-year-old Emmanuel Mudiay and 19-year-old Jamal Murray that combined to go 4-of-22 from the floor. Murray, who was the No. 7 overall pick in last June's draft, is 0-of-16 from the field in the first four games of his NBA career.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (3-2): Star center Andre Drummond finished with six points and six rebounds on Wednesday while his counterpart with the Nets, center Brook Lopez, dominated the matchup with 34 points and 11 boards. “He was just – in my opinion – bringing absolutely no energy to the game,” Van Gundy told reporters of Drummond. “I don’t know if he was tired, I don’t know what the deal was. But he didn’t bring any energy to the game. Andre had a rough night." Drummond posted 20-plus rebounds in back-to-back games against Orlando and Milwaukee but totaled 19 in the last two contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nuggets SG Gary Harris (groin) and SF Will Barton (ankle) are both day-to-day.
2. Detroit SF Stanley Johnson is 2-of-16 from the field in the first five games while averaging 18.2 minutes.
3. Denver took both meetings last season and four of the last five in the series.