Pistons Rip Nets: 111-95
Feb 7, 2014; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons small forward Josh Smith (6) receives congratulations from center Andre Drummond (0) after scoring in the first half against the Brooklyn Nets at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
– Pistons improve to (20-29) in a much-needed home victory against the seventh seeded Brooklyn Nets Friday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Josh Smith (21 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 blocks) and Andre Drummond (16 points, 22 rebounds) helped push Detroit to a 30 point second half lead to hold off a huge fourth quarter charge by former Sixth Man of the Year, Jason Terry (18 points, 6/9 from deep). Brandon Jennings also helped by chiming in a near quadruple-double (26 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, and 8 turnovers), would have been the first quadruple-double to include turnovers since Nets Head Coach Jason Kidd accomplished the feat years ago.
The Pistons had one of their most convincing victories of the year against a team that they had to beat Friday night at The Palace. The Brooklyn Nets (22-26) are now just 3.5 games ahead of Detroit in the win/loss column, as Detroit inches themselves to just 1.5 games behind the eight seeded Charlotte Bobcats (22-28).
Detroit handled the Brooklyn Nets from the get-go, taking a 30-17 lead after one, where Andre Drummond grabbed 7 boards and scored 6 of his 16 in the first 8 minutes of play, setting up for a monster night on the glass for Dre.
The Pistons out shot the Nets 52%-36% from the floor, out rebounded the Nets 57-40, and out shot the Nets from the perimeter. The Pistons connected on 53% of their three-point attempts oppose to the Nets 38% shooting.
Chauncey Billups returned to the court for Detroit, in his first action in nearly a month. Billups played just 9 minutes, scoring 2 points, and dishing out 2 dimes (one nice pass behind the back, falling out-of-bounds to Drummond for the giant slam).
Just two days removed from the Bynum-Cheeks feud, nothing new appears to be on the forefront as Bynum had a “DNP-CD” tonight. It could just be because of the return of Chauncey, or Cheeks making a point. None the less, the Pistons managed to hold on to their 30-point second half lead, as the Nets managed to cut it to single-digits (104-95) with just over a minute to go.
The Pistons get right back to it Saturday night at The Palace, as they continue their 5-game home stand and welcome the run-and-gun Denver Nuggets to town. Denver is coming off a blowout loss to the hands of the New York Knicks in New York, and will travel to the Motor City Friday night leading into Saturday morning.
The Nuggets, (4-6) in their last 10, suffered some terrible news earlier in the week as star Guard Nate Robinson suffered a torn ACL injury. Denver will be without Nate for the rest of the season, along with their sidelined big man JaVale McGee.
Should be some fun, up-tempo action Saturday night, as both these teams love to get out and run in transition. Detroit will look to gain some more ground leading into the All-Star break as they continue this long home stand.