|
 Drummond sent a message to Sacramento center DeMarcus Cousins,
the Kings' leading scorer, by blocking three of his shots in the
first quarter. Cousins failed to reach 20 points for the first time
in six games, and the Pistons limited the Kings to 35 second-half
points in a 99-89 victory at The Palace.
"Andre is a force down there," Pistons guard Kyle Singler said.
"He's going to make plays like that. He has to make plays like that.
We're not great on-the-ball defenders, and guys are getting by us,
so for him to protect the rim like that, it's big for us."
It was a rare display of quality defense by Detroit, which held an
opponent under 100 points for just the fourth time in 18 games.
"We just limited them to one shot (after halftime)," said Pistons
forward Josh Smith, who had a game-high 24 points and grabbed eight
rebounds. "We gave up too many offensive rebounds and second-chance
points. We wanted to put a halt to it, and that's what we were able
to do in the third quarter."
Guard Rodney Stuckey scored 23 points off the bench for Detroit
(25-39) after contributing just 13 points in his previous three
games. Stuckey is averaging 19.9 points in 11 career games against
Sacramento, his highest against any opponent.
"When Stuck's attacking, he makes us a dynamic team," Detroit guard
Will Bynum said. "I was just glad to see he was attacking tonight."
Drummond added 15 points and eight rebounds to go along with five
blocks. Singler chipped in 11 points, seven rebounds and five of the
team's nine steals.
Small forward Rudy Gay's 20 points led Sacramento, which lost its
third game in a row and fell for the sixth time in eight games.
Point guard Isaiah Thomas had 19 points and eight assists, but
Cousins was limited to 13 points while grabbing 14 rebounds.
"We got stagnant after we started missing shots," Gay said. "When
you're missing shots, you try to force things. I do think for the
most part we took a lot of good shots and tried to get into the
paint, but it just didn't work out for us."
The Kings (22-42) clinched a losing record for the eighth straight
season. Their last winning season was 2005-06, when they went 44-38.
Sacramento is 1-3 on its season-long, seven-game road trip.
The Pistons scored the first eight points of the second half,
including 3-pointers by Smith and point guard Brandon Jennings, to
grab a 60-54 lead. Smith had nine points in the quarter and Drummond
added six as Detroit took a 72-65 lead into the fourth quarter.
[to top of second column] |
Sacramento shot 20 percent from the field (4-for-20) during the
third and scored just 11 points.
"I thought we lost that game in the third quarter," Kings coach
Michael Malone said. "We did not come out ready to play. We were
just not able to get stops. It's a disappointing loss."
Singler gave the Pistons their first double-digit lead at 75-65 with
a free throw, and Stuckey followed with a 3-pointer. Detroit's lead
remained in double figures until an 8-0 Sacramento run closed the
gap to 89-81.
Smith hit a jumper to end the Kings' spurt, and Detroit was not
threatened from that point.
Thomas had 15 points and five assists in the first half, leading the
Kings to a 54-52 halftime advantage.
NOTES: Veteran PF Reggie Evans made his first start since being
acquired by Sacramento last month from the Brooklyn Nets. ...
Detroit has won the last four home meetings. He finished with six
points and eight rebounds in 22 minutes. ... The Kings are 3-24 when
scoring fewer than 100 points. ... Pistons C Andre Drummond has 348
offensive rebounds this season, the fourth-best total in team
history. Dennis Rodman holds the top three spots, including a
franchise-record 523 in 1991-92. ... Sacramento is the only team
with three players averaging 20 points — C DeMarcus Cousins (22.4
points per game), PG Isaiah Thomas (20.4) and SF Rudy Gay (20.2).
... The Kings have only four healthy guards on the roster with Jason
Terry (knee) out for the season. ... Neither team has a winning
streak longer than four games this season. ... Detroit rookie PG
Peyton Siva (left ankle sprain) was not in uniform.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
