Detroit @ San Antonio preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 1, 2019 ) San Antonio 98, Detroit 132

The San Antonio Spurs can't seem to find any consistency and followed up their best offensive performance of the season with under 100 points in a loss. The Spurs will try to get back in the win column when they host another team with consistency issues in the Detroit Pistons on Saturday.

San Antonio shot an NBA season-best 67.4 percent from the floor in a 145-115 win at Memphis on Monday but returned from a holiday break and needed to score the game's final 13 points to make it respectable in a 102-98 loss at Dallas on Thursday. The Spurs traded wins and losses over their last eight games but are opening a three-game homestand on Saturday, and the team is 8-8 in its own building. The Pistons were losers of five in a row and got bullied on the inside in a 125-109 home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday before bouncing back with a 132-102 win over Washington on Thursday. "We weren't in a good spot, but for the most part this locker room is pretty good about keeping pretty even, not getting too high and not getting too low when we're on a losing streak," Detroit forward Blake Griffin told reporters after the win. "I thought we did a good job of just focusing on us and make sure that we did our thing tonight."

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FS Detroit, FS Southwest (San Antonio)

ABOUT THE PISTONS (12-20): Detroit struggled through a series of injuries of late and survived by getting solid performances from some previously seldom-used players. Point guard Tim Frazier averaged 4.6 minutes while appearing in only seven games between Nov. 12 and Dec. 20 but stepped up over the last three contests, averaging 12.3 points on 68.4 percent shooting in 26 minutes. "It's huge. Tim's done a great job all year staying ready," Griffin told reporters. "He's played a lot the last three games and been fantastic in all three. It's a credit to him and our coaching staff keeping ready."

ABOUT THE SPURS (12-18): All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge exploded for a season-high 40 points on 17-of-25 shooting at Memphis on Monday but dropped down to 17 in Thursday's loss, closer to his season average of 19.3 points. Aldridge (7-of-13 from the floor, 1-of-2 from beyond the arc) still shot well on Thursday but San Antonio struggled to 8-of-29 from beyond the arc as the guards went cold. Patty Mills (0-of-4), Marco Belinelli (0-of-4), Bryn Forbes (0-of-4) and Dejounte Murray (0-of-1) combined to go 0-of-13 from beyond the arc at Dallas after going a combined 7-of-12 at Memphis.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Pistons SG Luke Kennard (knee) sat out the last two games and is expected to miss at least another 10 days.

2. Spurs SG DeMar DeRozan is averaging 23.7 points on 27-of-40 shooting over the last three contests.

3. Detroit shot 59.1 percent from the floor in a 132-98 home win over San Antonio on Dec. 1.

PREDICTION: Spurs 109, Pistons 105