Detroit Pistons beat New Orleans on Pelican’s home floor on Monday. New Orleans will have a quick chance to reconcile the embarrassing defeat when it visits Detroit on Sunday afternoon.
Detroit led by 22 points at the end of the first quarter and 31 at half-time on the way to a 127-81 novel. Pelicans were held at 32.6 percent shooting and committed 17 sales.
They also dropped forward Trey Murphy to a seasonal shoulder injury as he tangled with pistons forward Ausar Thompson.
“We looked like a team that forgot how to play basketball,” said Pelicans coach Willie Green after his team band for the franchise record for his most inclined loss of regular season.
New Orleans bounced back from that debate by defeating Minnesota 119-115 on Wednesday. Pelicans played Timberwolves again in Minneapolis on Friday and the result was completely different. Minnesota dismantled Pelicans, 134-93.
Zion Williamson received a lower back Control in Wednesday’s competition and was not available to play in the re -match. Williamson had 29 points, eight assists and five returns in the victory.
“(Friday) was more about being just sloppy, being insane,” Green said. “We know we can get better. To give us a chance to win these games, our guys know that we have to take care of basketball. We didn’t do a good job with it.”
Overall, Pelicans have lost eight of their last ten games and are just looking to put this lost season behind them.
The pistons sit sixth in the Eastern Conference and try to pass Indiana and Milwaukee for the fourth place. It would give them the benefit of the home court in the first round of the playoffs.
They did not help by losing against the injured Dallas Maverick’s 123-117 on Friday. Dallas led 35-27 after the first quarter and Pistons spent the rest of the night meaningless to try to compensate for the deficit.
“We just didn’t do the job defensively as we can, and that’s what it came to,” said coach JB Bickerstaff. “To start the game, the first quarter was their ball just loose and they came to the color. It allowed too many triggers. We gave up shots at the edge and offensive rebounds because our big had to help.”
As usual, All-Star Cade Cunningham led the pistons with 35 points, seven returns and six assists. However, Detroit could not speed up the tempo to its taste. The pistons were held at six quick points.
“They did a pretty good job of defending us when it comes to the transition,” said the reserve center Isaiah Stewart. “We know defensively that we love to use our defense to lead to transition buckets. We didn’t (Friday) and it hurt us too.”
Start wing Tim Hardaway JR did not play during the second half due to a right ankle. His status of Pistons’ three-game home tooth is uncertain. They will also host San Antonio on Tuesday and eastern conference leadership Cleveland on Friday.
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