Game Preview: Detroit Pistons vs San Antonio Spurs

Game Preview: Detroit Pistons vs San Antonio Spurs

The Detroit Pistons travel to San Antonio to take on the Spurs Wednesday on ESPN at 8 PM. This is the Pistons third nationally televised game of the schedule, the game was added to ESPN’s schedule after the Pistons busy trade deadline.

Both teams are coming into this game hot, the Detroit Pistons are currently on a four game winning streak and San Antonio is currently on a five game winning streak. The Spurs are 50-9 and feature a star studded line up led by Kawhi Leonard. Detroit is sitting at 31-29 and scrapping for playoff position in the highly competitive Eastern Conference.

San Antonio visited the Pistons January 12th and were able to leave the Palace at Auburn Hills with a 109-99 victory led by veteran point guard Tony Parker. Parker finished the game with 31 points on 13/19 shooting. Spurs power forward LaMarcus Aldridge also had a strong game in the first contest finishing with 22 points on 10/19 shooting, he also had 13 rebounds.

Defense will be key for the Detroit Pistons in this matchup. They are coming off of four straight solid defensive performances holding their opponents under the century mark in three of their last four games, only allowing 101 in the recent victory against the Toronto Raptors during garbage time after jumping out to a large lead late in the game.

The Pistons come into this game feeling very confident, two of their recent wins came against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors, the two top seeds in the Eastern Conference. This confidence will serve them well going up against a San Antonio team that is currently on pace to finish with the third best regular season record of all time.

What to Watch:

The Pistons come into this matchup with the Spurs with their new look starting lineup which features newly acquired forward Tobias Harris. Harris starts at the power forward position for the Pistons and will have a tough matchup against LaMarcus Aldridge in this one. In a previous post (Detroit Pistons Buy Out Candidate Analysis ) I discussed the Detroit Pistons lack of a true “big man” at the power forward position due to the recent injury to veteran Anthony Tolliver.

San Antonio is one of best teams in the league and they have the ability to match up with small ball lineups such as the Pistons and also the ability to go big with the combination of Tim Duncan and LaMarcus Aldridge. This creates an interesting dynamic to see how Stan Van Gundy tries to matchup when San Antonio does indeed go “big”.

Starting Lineups:

Detroit Pistons

Reggie Jackson
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Marcus Morris
Tobias Harris
Andre Drummond

San Antonio Spurs

Tony Parker
Danny Green
Kawhi Leonard
LaMarcus Aldridge
Tim Duncan