The Detroit Pistons will look to be thankful this Thanksgiving, as they hope to get back in the win column by taking down the Los Angeles Clippers when they play at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Wednesday night. The Detroit Pistons last game was a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Pistons lost 98-86. The Pistons leading scorer was Andre Drummond, who finished with 23 points. Andre Drummond also had 10 rebounds, one block, one assist, and two steals. The Bucks leading scorer was Brandon Knight with 20 points. The Pistons rallied to cut the lead to 88-80 with four minutes left, before losing steam. D.J. Augustin started in place of Brandon Jennings, who missed the game with a hyperextended left thumb, which he suffered late in Friday’s loss to Atlanta.
It was the second time this season that the Bucks and Pistons played with the Pistons winning the first matchup. With that loss, the Pistons fall to 3-11 on the season and 1-7 on the road. This loss is also the Pistons' fifth in a row and eighth in the last nine.
The Los Angeles Clippers are coming off a 113-92 win versus the Charlotte Hornets. Chris Paul led the charge for the Clippers with 22 points, tied for the game-high honors with Blake Griffin. The Hornets leading scorer was Cody Zeller with 17 points.
Last season, the Pistons played the Clippers twice, one at the Palace and the other at the Staples Center in L.A. The Clippers won both games by a combined score of 217- 173. This game is the start of a four-game home stand for the Detroit Pistons before they travel to Boston. If the Pistons have any chance of winning this game and stopping the high flying Clippers, they have to improve tremendously from the charity stripe.
The Pistons only shot 41.2 percent on 7-of-17 from the costless throw line last game. The Clippers found success last game from the costless throw line, hitting 8-of-10, good for 80 percent. The Pistons also have to improve on rebounding, as they only had 36 rebounds as a team in their last game and were out-rebounded 50-36. The Pistons also need to get more points out of their bench, who combined for 20 points last game. The Pistons will need to improve on three-point shooting, where they only hit 7 threes on 20 attempts, which is good for 35.0 percent in their previous game. While in the last game the Clippers, they hit 15 threes on 32 attempts which is good for 46.9 percent.
This is the first of a two-game season series between the Clippers and the Pistons. Equivalently, just like last season, the Clippers may beat down the Pistons on their home floor, led by Chris Paul. However, if the Pistons want to win, they are going to need to get another huge production from Andre Drummond. He has the tough task of trying to hold down the Clippers bigs in DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin.