Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Paul George scored 33 points and Kawhi Leonard added 24 as the host Los Angeles Clippers rebounded from a rare defeat by rallying for a 112-106 victory Saturday afternoon over the new-look Detroit Pistons.
James Harden scored 14 points and Russell Westbrook added 13 as the Clippers turned a 13-point third-quarter deficit into their fifth victory over their last six games while improving to 20-5 at home. The win came two days after a loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, just the fourth time Los Angeles fell in 22 games.
The Clippers entered the fourth quarter down 81-76 before scoring 36 in the final period to avoid losing consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 21-23.
Jaden Ivey scored 23 points for the Pistons, Cade Cunningham added 22 and Simone Fontecchio added 20 in his Detroit debut after he was acquired Thursday in a trade with the Utah Jazz. Troy Brown Jr. (eight points) and Shake Milton (four points) also made their Pistons debuts after a roster shake up this week.
Jalen Duren scored 10 points with 18 rebounds and Cunningham had 10 assists for Detroit, which was unable to deliver its first three-game winning streak. The Pistons won at Sacramento and Portland to open the current five-game road trip heading into the All-Star break.
After falling behind early in the second quarter, the Clippers didn’t lead again until they went up 89-88 with 8:50 remaining after three free throws from Harden. A 16-2 run, highlighted by nine points from George, gave Los Angeles a 107-94 lead with 3:37 remaining.
The Pistons charged back with an 8-0 run to pull within 107-102 with 1:33 remaining before a George layup with 1:09 remaining sealed the victory.
The Clippers lost Norman Powell with 5:12 remaining with a laceration to his forehead after absorbing an inadvertent elbow.
Los Angeles went up 12-2 just over three minutes into the game before trailing 58-46 with 1:52 remaining in the first half and were left looking up at a 58-49 deficit at the half. The Pistons had a 32-15 rebounding advantage in the first half.
The Pistons won the overall rebounding battle 57-35 as the Clippers failed to grab an offensive board for the first time in franchise history. Los Angeles is the fifth NBA team without an offensive rebound since the 1983-84 season.
–Field Level Media