One of the NBA’s hottest teams will continue to test itself on the road when the Detroit Pistons face the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday at Inglewood, Calif.
The Pistons have won 10 of their past 11 games in a run that is second only to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who began their 11-game run with a 118-115 victory over Detroit on Feb. 5.
Since that game, the Pistons have won five in a row on the road, including a 134-106 victory at Utah on Monday. Cade Cunningham had 29 points with nine assists and Jalen Duren had 16 points with 12 rebounds versus the Jazz.
Detroit shot 55.4 percent from the floor, the ninth time in 14 games since the start of February that they have shot better than 50 percent in a game.
While Cunningham leads the Pistons with 25.3 points per game, Duren has averaged a team-best 10.3 rebounds to go along with 11.2 points. Duren has been especially effective since Jan. 16 with 14.1 points and 12.0 rebounds as he helps to fill the void left by Jaden Ivey, who has been out since Jan. 3 with a broken leg.
Not only have the Pistons failed to climb above .500 in any of the past five seasons, they had a franchise-worst .171 winning percentage a season ago when they finished 14-68. And yet so far, they seem unfazed by their recent success as evident by their 117-97 home victory over the defending-champion Boston Celtics last week.
“They’ve done a really good job of staying in the moment and that shows a ton of maturity,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “It shows the character of the guys. We don’t have big-headed guys. We have guys who live in reality and understand the ups and downs of the game, so that’s where they stay. It gives them an opportunity to stay who they are in good times, bad times.”
The Clippers just completed one of their most challenging stretches of the season with a brutal 119-117 road loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. They led by 23 points in the third quarter and 19 in the fourth before the wheels came off.
Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue was asked how the team can avoid a reccurring habit of late-game collapses. The Suns used a 13-4 run to tie the game at 106-106 with 4:18 remaining then held the Clippers to one field goal over the final two minutes.
“Play through the game, play the game the right way,” Lue told reporters. “… Not force, not do dumb (expletive). It’s that simple.”
Ivica Zubac scored a career-high 35 points to go along with 10 rebounds for Los Angeles. Kawhi Leonard and James Harden had 21 points apiece as the team lost for the sixth time in seven games.
The Clippers went 2-6 on a stretch of eight consecutive road games that dated back before the All-Star break, with their most recent home game on Feb. 12 resulting in a victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Los Angeles was without Norman Powell again on Tuesday. The team’s leading scorer has missed six of the past seven games, first with a knee injury and now with a hamstring strain.
Ben Simmons (knee) did not play Tuesday and is not expected to play Wednesday.
–Field Level Media
