Pistons at Wizards
The Detroit Pistons were embarrassed by an 18-point home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday but looked like a different team after a couple of days of practice. The Pistons will try to carry the effort they showed in a 95-85 triumph at Dallas on Wednesday back to the East Coast when they visit the Washington Wizards on Friday.
Detroit, which leads the Eastern Conference in scoring defense (95.7 points), appeared headed for a second straight loss against a sub-.500 team on Wednesday before stepping up in the fourth quarter and locking down on the defensive end. "It was our defense," reserve forward Jon Leuer told reporters. "From the first half, even though we weren’t playing well offensively, that allowed us to stay in the game. Our defense really picked up in the second half and we knew we were going to catch a rhythm offensively, eventually." The Wizards are in the bottom third of the East in scoring defense (106.2 points) but are doing enough on that end to support the offense and earn three wins in the last four games. "We just wanted to be more physical," Washington star John Wall told reporters after Wednesday's 109-106 triumph over Charlotte. "...We made everything pretty tough for them. We just wanted to keep being aggressive."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Detroit, CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington)
ABOUT THE PISTONS (14-13): Detroit is still integrating point guard Reggie Jackson back into the rotation after he missed the first 21 games recovering from a knee injury, and he delivered season highs of 20 points and 30 minutes on Wednesday. “He played well and he made better decisions," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters of Jackson. "I didn’t think he was making good decisions for most of the game, but in the fourth, I thought that he made better decisions. He attacked, he got better shots, and he made the one weak side pass for the three in the corner." Jackson already made it through one back-to-back since returning and will fight through another when Detroit returns home to host Indiana on Saturday.
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (10-14): Washington small forward Kelly Oubre Jr. continues to make his case for more playing time and picked up a spot start in place of Markieff Morris (foot) on Wednesday. Oubre delivered 15 points in 40 minutes and added a pair of steals to the defensive effort. The 21-year-old Kansas product was an inconsistent part of coach Scott Brook's rotation in the first month but played at least 21 minutes in each of the last five games and is averaging 24.7 minutes over the last nine contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Wall recorded seven steals on Wednesday to become Washington's franchise leader in the category with 764.
2. Pistons C Andre Drummond had a string of seven straight double-doubles come to an end when he collected three points and 17 rebounds on Wednesday.
3. Detroit snapped a four-game losing streak in the series with a 112-99 home win on April 8.