Clippers at Pistons
The Los Angeles Clippers and Detroit Pistons pulled off the first blockbuster deal ahead of the NBA's trade deadline when star power forward Blake Griffin moved east late last month. Griffin will get a chance to show his old team just how much fun he's having with his new one when the Pistons host the Clippers on Friday.
It was assumed that the Griffin deal, which brought shooting guard Avery Bradley and small forward Tobias Harris to the Clippers, was the start of a roster rebuild for Los Angeles, but instead the team made a move toward the future this week by signing leading scorer Lou Williams to a three-year extension. "It was nice for the organization to commit to me the same way I've committed to these guys this year," Williams told reporters on Wednesday. "In years past, these scenarios don't usually go my way, so it was nice for one to go my way and (for me to end up) somewhere I wanted to be. ... It's just nice to have that one consistent -- you know you're going to be somewhere for an extended period of time." Griffin is thriving with his new team and contributed a team-high 25 points to a 115-106 win over Brooklyn on Wednesday. The Pistons have yet to lose with Griffin in the lineup and are winners of five in a row following an eight-game slide.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN, FS Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), FS Detroit
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (27-25): Williams is going through a shooting slump while making 15-of-57 shots from the field over the last three games, but Los Angeles won the last two contests and four of five to stay in the hunt for a Western Conference playoff spot. The last two wins came with some help from Harris, who scored 24 points in his team debut on Saturday and followed it up with 19 in a 104-101 triumph over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday. Bradley got off to a slower start with eight points in Saturday's win before finding a rhythm and delivering 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting against the Mavericks.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (27-26): Griffin took over down the stretch offensively on Wednesday, scoring 11 of his 25 points in the final 7:20, and added seven assists and a pair of steals to his totals. "He's that caliber of player," guard Reggie Bullock told the team's website of Griffin. "He makes the game easy -- bully his way through pretty much anybody. We give him the ball in the right positions and he makes the right plays." Griffin got some help on the other end Wednesday from center Andre Drummond, who contributed 17 points and an NBA season-high 27 rebounds to go with three steals and two blocks.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Clippers SF Danilo Gallinari is averaging 22.3 points on 59 percent shooting in three games since returning from a glute injury.
2. Pistons SF Stanley Johnson scored 19 points on Wednesday and is averaging 16 over the last five contests, nearly double his season average (8.5).
3. Detroit earned a 95-87 win at Los Angeles on Oct. 28 while holding Williams to 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting.