New Orleans was tied with San Antonio at 86 with 2:42 left in regulation.
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Sounds fishy, Pop: Ginobili said before the game that he expects to be back next week and doctors have cleared him to play after testicular surgery, the result of a knee to the groin from New Orleans’ Ryan Anderson on February 3.
Kawhi Leonard scored 27 points and LaMarcus Aldridge added 23 as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Detroit Pistons 97-81 on Wednesday night to clinch their 19th straight playoff berth.
For a second straight night, New Orleans put itself in position to knock off a Southwest Division rival by playing well over the first 45 minutes or so of the game. San Antonio secured its 23rd road win, which matches New Orleans’ total number of wins this season.
“I’m not hesitating, I’m not in doubt, I’m not afraid”, he said.
Stay hot from deep: On the most recent edition of the DBB podcast, I noted that even though the Pistons’ offensive output has been inconsistent all season, one of the things they have done relatively well is generate open three-point shots.
“I was emotional, and yeah, I will say that I shouldn’t have said it”, Gentry said before Thursday’s game. “It’s been a while I think since we did that good on the road trip; not even just the wins, but the way we played defensively and stuff like that”. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich was asked why the Spurs hired respected analytics expert Kirk Goldsberry. “We have to learn, some kind of way, how to close out a game”.
“They’ve got a lot of guys willing to play for below their market value”. Gordon said Thursday was proof that the Pelicans are getting better, that they have the capacity to make a run if they can fix their late-game issues.
Pelicans: Davis tied David West’s franchise record of 127 games with at least 10 points and 10 rebounds…. “So it’s a little different situation than most of us have”, Van Gundy said. But after that, I started to get better.
Anthony Davis who suffered a bloody lip by the sharp-elbow of Tim Duncan (inadvertent) had 17 points and 13 rebounds for New Orleans, which dropped its third straight. “They continued to find good shots and forced us into bad shots and turnovers”. Derrick Favors added 15 points and seven rebounds for Utah, which has lost four straight and seven of 11. Andre Drummond grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for the Pistons, who had saw four-game winning streak halted. New Orleans has been outscored 86-61 in the fourth quarters of those three games.
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The Pistons (31-30) only trailed by one at halftime, but collapsed in the third quarter with a display of one-on-one basketball that played right into the hands of the league’s best defensive team.
