Big money shot
Who knew that all the Detroit Pistons needed to start winning games was getting rid of Josh Smith? After winning every game without him so far, the squad had a big test against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs on the road and they came up victorious.
This wasn’t a game where the Spurs rested all their starters either. Well, not completely.
Detroit was down by as much as 18 points in the first half and rallied back in the second, at one point going up ten points towards the end of the 3rd quarter.
There was plenty of back and forth in the 4th quarter thanks to some sharp shooting from Danny Green and Manu Ginobli from 3-point range, but the last blunder by the Spurs is what cost them the game (not to mention missed free throws). With 8 seconds left, Tim Duncan threw a bad in bounds pass that was stolen by Brandon Jennings, as he took it coast to coast to hit the buzzer beater and silence the San Antonio crowd.
It was a dagger. Now the Pistons have won 6-straight.
Both Andre Drummond (20 points & 17 rebounds) and Greg Monroe (17 points & 11 rebounds) had double-doubles, while D.J. Augustin helped with 19 points of his own for Detroit.