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 Tobias Harris had 22 points and eight rebounds, and the Pistons
handed Philadelphia its sixth consecutive loss in a 111-91 victory
on Wednesday night at The Palace.
The power forward is averaging 18.3 points in four games since being
acquired from Orlando last week.
"He looks great. He's doing all the things we need him to do,"
Detroit center Andre Drummond said. "When he first came here, I told
him, 'Don't hesitate. You're not here to play slow. We want you to
run and we want you to try to score the ball when you touch it.'"
The Pistons (29-29) had six players in double figures while winning
their second straight after a season-high five-game losing streak.
They even got a career night from little-used small forward Reggie
Bullock. Though he's been on the roster all season, Bullock had
scored a total of six points entering the game. Given a chance to
play because of injuries, he broke through with a career-high 16
points.
The Pistons played without their two top reserve forwards, rookie
Stanley Johnson (sprained right shoulder) and Anthony Tolliver
(sprained right knee).
"It was great to see the ball go in for him," Detroit coach Stan Van
Gundy said. "Our guys, if you go through everything they liked
tonight, that would probably be at the top of their list. They're
really happy for him."
Point guard Reggie Jackson contributed 17 points and five assists,
while Drummond notched his league-high 49th double-double with 12
points and 18 rebounds. Drummond also spearheaded a defensive effort
that held the Sixers to 39.8 percent shooting.
"He's put a lot on me to be the anchor for the defense," Drummond
said of Van Gundy.
Small forward Marcus Morris supplied 13 points and a career-high
eight assists. Van Gundy likes how Harris and Morris have meshed.
"Those guys are already developing a nice chemistry together," he
said. "They enjoy playing together. They pass the ball to each other
and Marcus definitely takes pride in making the right play and
getting the ball to people."
Swingman Hollis Thompson scored 19 points for the Sixers (8-49), who
have lost 10 of their last 11 games. Power forward Jahlil Okafor
added 13 points and point guard Kendall Marshall tossed in a
season-high 12 for Philadelphia, which lost to Orlando 124-115 on
Tuesday.
"We're seeing teams who are fighting for their lives to get into the
playoffs," Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said. "If you look at
their roster, they have a heck of a team. We're getting 'A' games
now. They hit us hard at the start and we dug ourselves far too deep
of a hole."
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The highly-touted frontcourt duo of Okafor and Nerlens Noel secured
just six rebounds and offered little resistance defensively.
"I'm always looking at our bigs' rebounding," Brown said. "We pay
attention to their plus-minus, trying to grow those two guys
together and challenge them. It's not to the level that they want or
I want. Rebounding is something that we're always on them to help
carry us. In many ways, we'll go as they go and at the start, we
struggled."
Detroit took control early and stormed to a 65-42 halftime lead.
Harris made all seven of his shots from the field while scoring 17
points.
A Harris foul shot midway through the third quarter gave Detroit a
30-point lead at 76-46. Things were going so well for the Pistons
that Drummond, the league's worst free throw shooter, drained two
foul shots to close out the third quarter to make it 85-59.
NOTES: PF Justin Harper, who signed to a 10-day contract earlier in
the day, was in uniform for Detroit. Harper, who was playing with
the NBA Development League's Los Angeles D-Fenders, had not appeared
in a regular-season game since a 14-game stint with Orlando during
the 2011-12 season. "In these kinds of situations, we're looking for
somebody who can step in and play right away," Pistons coach Stan
Van Gundy said of Harper, who played on Detroit's summer-league
team. ... Sixers PG T.J. McConnell (right ankle sprain) missed the
game. He was the only Philadelphia player who appeared in its
previous 56 games. ... PG Ish Smith has 10 career 20-point games,
all but one with the Sixers. ... Philadelphia has used 28 starting
lineups, none more than nine games. ... Detroit won the first two
meetings. The teams play once more in Philadelphia on March 12. ...
The Pistons play seven of their next nine games on the road.
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