Pelicans at Pistons
Blake Griffin is getting his first taste of the Detroit Pistons' streakiness, and he will try to help them end their latest slide when they host the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday. The Pistons endured losing streaks of seven and eight contests earlier this season and produced their second five-game winning streak of the campaign with Griffin on the roster this month, but they've dropped two in a row after suffering a 118-115 loss at Atlanta on Sunday.
Griffin scored 23 points while Andre Drummond recorded 25 and 15 rebounds in the setback, which dropped Detroit back below .500. The Pelicans savored a day of rest on Sunday to recover from the previous day's overtime win at Brooklyn in which they squandered a 28-point lead before emerging victorious 138-128. "I think it could have been easy for us to just kind of cave in when we had the big lead and they came back," New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters. "But I was really proud of the guys hanging in there and keep fighting and fighting and find a way to win the game." All-Star Anthony Davis finished with 44 points, 17 rebounds and six steals while tying his career high with 50 minutes for New Orleans, which is 2-5 since losing DeMarcus Cousins to an Achilles injury.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS New Orleans, FS Detroit
ABOUT THE PELICANS (29-26): Rajon Rondo is one of a handful of players the team needs to step up in the wake of Cousins' injury, and the veteran point guard did just that with 25 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds against the Nets. "Amazing, amazing," forward Nikola Mirotic told reporters of Rondo's effort. "Especially in the beginning of the game, setting the down, driving to the basket. He was reading the game excellently tonight." Mirotic finished with 21 points, 16 rebounds and five blocked shots in the best of his four performances since being acquired from Chicago.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (27-28): Detroit allowed 101.5 points in its first four games after obtaining Griffin, but that number has ballooned to 113 in the back-to-back losses. "Our defense stinks," coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters in Atlanta. "Starts with tonight, we couldn't stop the ball at all. We just got broken down, broken down, broken down. We can't guard anybody off the dribble." Monday marks the opener of a three-game homestand that bridges the All-Star break for the Pistons, who will play 11 of 14 on the road afterward.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Drummond has recorded 10 straight double-doubles.
2. Davis scored 30 points and hauled in 10 rebounds in a 112-109 home win over the Pistons last month.
3. SF James Ennis III scored 14 points and PG Jameer Nelson added six and five assists in their debuts with Detroit on Sunday.