Drummond Helps Pistons Snap 13-Game Losing Streak With 105-103 Win Over Suns
PHOENIX (AP) — Andre Drummond sank a free throw with 2.5 seconds left, part of his 23 points, to lead the Detroit Pistons over the Phoenix Suns 105-103 win Friday night.
The Suns turned the ball over of their last possession of the game to help Detroit seal the win. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hit a fadeaway 23-foot 3-pointer with 1:13 to play to break a 97-97 tie, and the Pistons were able to hold off the Suns in the closing seconds. The Pistons ended a 13-game losing streak to improve to 4-19, sending the struggling Suns to their fourth straight loss.
Drummond's 23 points and 14 rebounds led the Pistons, with Josh Smith adding 12 points and 11 boards. Caldwell-Pope finished with 14 points.
Goran Dragic led the Suns with 18 points, including a layup with 15.9 seconds left in the game to make the score 102-101 Detroit. But the Suns (12-12) came up short.
Markieff Morris added 17 points, another of seven players to score in double figures.
The Pistons trailed by three midway through the fourth quarter, but scored five unanswered points to take a 91-89 lead with 5:13 left to play. During a Suns timeout, a Pistons fan seated a few rows behind the Suns bench heckled guard Eric Bledsoe, yelling that Bledsoe was not worth his five-year, $70 million contract signed before this season.
That drew some choice words from Bledsoe at the fan, who never left his seat.
The two teams traded leads several times throughout the third quarter, but the Suns took a 76-75 into the fourth with Morris scoring 11 of his points in the third.
After making 50 percent of their shots in the first quarter, the Suns made just 9 of 23 attempts in the second and trailed by seven. An eight-foot runner in the key put the Pistons up 44-39 with 4:08 left in the first half — two of guard D.J. Augustin's nine second-quarter points.
Detroit led 55-52 at halftime. The Pistons' first basket of the second half was a dunk going down the lane from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
Phoenix led by eight points in the first quarter, forcing an up-tempo style right away. Bledsoe and Dragic combined for 18 first-half points, and Miles Plumlee scored eight first-quarter points.
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TIP-INS
Pistons: Guard Jodie Meeks, out all season with a lower back injury, made his season debut Friday night and finished with 12 points in 23 minutes, including a pair of free throws with 8.9 seconds left to play . The Pistons scored 28 points off 17 Suns turnovers.
Suns: Guard Isaiah Thomas played for the first time after missing the past eight games with a deep right ankle bruise. He scored 10 points in 28 minutes, including a game-tying layup with 2:06 to play, but his streak of consecutive made free throws ended at 50 with a fourth-quarter miss. . Phoenix made 10 of 31 3-point attempts.
UP NEXT
Pistons: At Sacramento Saturday.
Suns: At Oklahoma City Sunday night.
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