76ers at Pistons
The Philadelphia 76ers snapped a 23-game road losing streak at New Orleans on Thursday by locking down on the defensive end and getting contributions on the offensive end from people other than center Joel Embiid. The 76ers will try to follow that formula to another triumph when they visit the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.
Philadelphia often played with a bigger lineup on Thursday and dared New Orleans to beat them from the outside. "I think our defense has been trending that way," 76ers coach Brett Brown told reporters. "We just haven't had a win to validate it. I feel like our defense was physical. We've been playing Dario (Saric) at some 'three' and so you roll out those bigs, and it's a big team. Defensively, we have been trending well." The Pistons can match up with most teams along the front line and are getting healthy in the backcourt with Reggie Jackson back in the lineup. Detroit suffered through an 87-77 loss at Charlotte on Wednesday but scored 30 more points in a 117-90 triumph at Minnesota to close out the two-game trip on Friday as Jackson logged a season-high 29 minutes.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, CSN Philadelphia, FSN Detroit Plus
ABOUT THE 76ERS (5-18): Embiid, who is bringing renewed hope to the franchise in a remarkable rookie campaign, struggled to 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting on Thursday but blocked four shots and was plus-27 in 27 minutes. "I think we are trusting each other more now," Embiid told reporters. "If someone is getting beat, you know someone has to have his back. Lately, we've been playing great defense, and that's how we got the win." The Kansas product is benefiting from the production of power forward Ersan Ilyasova, who is averaging 20.3 points in the last four games and followed up a 23-point, 17-rebound performance at Memphis on Tuesday with 23 points and eight boards on Thursday.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (13-12): Embiid will have to deal with Detroit center Andre Drummond, who averaged 24 points and 21 rebounds in the last two games. "His energy was great," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters after Drummond went 10-of-13 from the floor and grabbed 22 rebounds in 28 minutes on Friday. "He was dominant. He was all over the boards. And you can see, as we start to get more penetration, he gets better opportunities on the offensive boards." That penetration comes from Jackson, who scored 16 points in his fourth game back from a knee injury that robbed him of the opening 21 games this season.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. 76ers C Nerlens Noel (knee) is traveling with the team and is close to making his season debut.
2. Pistons PF Marcus Morris is 14-of-26 from 3-point range over the last five games.
3. Detroit swept the four-game series last season, winning by an average of 14.8 points.