Washington Wizards vs Detroit Pistons Match Player Stats On Dec 26, 2018

Blake Griffin scored a game-high 23 points and sparked an early second-half run that gave Detroit the lead for good, and the Pistons defeated the visiting Washington Wizards 106-95 on Wednesday night.

Detroit had lost nine of its previous 11 games, but the burst at the start of the second half gave the Pistons command. They scored 23 of the first 25 points in the third quarter and turned a one-point deficit into a 77-57 lead with 6:39 left in that period.

The Pistons began the streak with back-to-back 3-pointers just nine seconds apart from Griffin and Bruce Brown. This same pair each scored five as Detroit posted the first 12 points of the half.

After a Markieff Morris dunk for the Wizards, the Pistons reeled off the next 11 points for that 20-point lead. Detroit outscored the Wizards 31-17 in the third quarter.

But Washington rallied in the fourth quarter, led by a trio of three-pointers from Trevor Ariza that thrice helped it cut Detroit's lead to three points, the last when Bradley Beal's dunk made it 96-93. The Pistons then locked things up with a 10-0 run.

Griffin also finished with nine rebounds and six assists. Langston Galloway added 22 points off the bench in 23 minutes while Andre Drummond (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Reggie Jackson (19 points) also helped the Detroit offense, especially in the second half.

John Wall and Beal led the Wizards with 21 points apiece. Ariza added 16 points, 15 of which came on three-pointers.

The Washington road problems continued as it fell to 4-16 away from home this season.

Wall bounced back from some recent troubles to score nine points in the first quarter as the Wizards held a 28-27 lead after the opening period.

The game swung back and forth in the first quarter, and there was more of the same in the second period. Thomas Bryant of Washington made a free throw with six-tenths of a second left that gave the Wizards a 55-54 lead at the break.

Detroit then turned everything around at the start of the third quarter.

--Field Level Media