The Detroit Pistons host the Portland Trail Blazers tonight as they look to continue their three-game win streak.
The Detroit Pistons (25-26) are enjoying life since acquiring Blake Griffin. The team is on a three-game winning streak, this coming directly after losing eight straight, though Griffin himself has only played in two of those contests.
They beat Cleveland by 11 while short-handed, and took care of Memphis and Miami in close contents with Griffin in the lineup. This has them one game in the loss column out of the eighth spot in the East, and 3.5 games back of fifth place.
With 31 games remaining, there’s plenty of possibility left on the table for Detroit. In those wins over Memphis and Miami with Griffin in the lineup, they are scoring 107.5 points per game, up from their season average of 102.9. Then there’s this:
That's +23.8 when Blake is on the floor, and -33.4 when Blake is off the floor. https://t.co/aFEPT3XrqV
— Duncan Smith (@DuncanSmithNBA) February 4, 2018
In his two contests in Pistons’ garb, Griffin is averaging 20.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game. His frontcourt mate, Andre Drummond, is enjoying the partnership, carrying ridiculous averages of 18.5 points, 17.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 3.5 steals, and 2.5 blocks per game in their two games together.
The Pistons are 16-10 at home, with six of their next seven games at Little Caesars Arena, including tonight’s matchup with Portland.
The Portland Trail Blazers (29-24) are sitting in sixth place in the Western Conference. They’re 7-3 over their past ten games, albeit against soft competition, but have lost two in a row coming into this one.
This will be the second leg of a back to back for the Trail Blazers, and ends a tough stretch of three road games in four days. They lost to the Raptors by 25 in Toronto on Friday and to the Celtics at the buzzer yesterday afternoon after blowing a 16-point halftime lead. However, Portland is 6-3 on the second game of a back to back set so far this season.
Injury Notes
Reggie Jackson and Jon Leuer are out for the Pistons. Luke Kennard (foot) and Dwight Buycks (fever) missed Saturday’s game and are questionable for tonight, so keep on eye on their status.
For the Trail Blazers, Shabazz Napier (toe) didn’t play yesterday and will be questionable tonight, while C.J. Wilcox is out with a knee injury, as has been the case all season.
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Detroit and Portland tip off at 7:00 p.m. ET tonight. The game is on Fox Sports Detroit and NBA TV.