Detroit @ New Orleans preview
Smoothie King Center
Last Meeting ( Jan 13, 2023 ) New Orleans 116, Detroit 110
The New Orleans Pelicans overcame a 22-point deficit to win Wednesday night.
The Detroit Pistons lost despite holding an 18-point lead Wednesday night.
Both teams will complete back-to-back sets when the Pelicans host the Pistons on Thursday night.
New Orleans will be without power forward Zion Williamson, who is being held out for rest on the second night of a back-to-back. Small forward Brandon Ingram (knee) is questionable.
CJ McCollum scored 29 points to lead New Orleans' comeback in a 110-106 road victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. He made 10 of 17 field-goal attempts, including 5 of 8 3-point attempts, and added 11 rebounds and five assists.
"CJ was incredible," coach Willie Green said.
New Orleans, which trailed 47-25 midway through the second quarter, finished the first half on an 18-4 run, then outscored the Thunder 67-55 in the second half despite playing its second consecutive game without leading scorer Ingram.
"To carve out a win like this against a really good team was fun to be a part of," Green said.
Williamson had 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists against the Thunder.
The Pelicans were coming off a home game in which they trailed by two points at halftime before seeing the Golden State Warriors run away to a 130-102 win. But when the Thunder threatened to run away, New Orleans fought back.
"The Golden State game we got down big and we got away from what we typically do," Green said. "(Wednesday) was a great example of trusting, trusting in each other, trusting the work that these guys put in, defensively trusting each other. Our team responded, and that's what it takes."
New Orleans center Jonas Valanciunas added 19 points and nine rebounds in just 21 minutes.
"That's a big-time game," Green said. "Without him, we don't win that game."
The Pistons led the Trail Blazers 59-41 late in the second quarter before Portland scored the final six points of the period and outscored Detroit 63-42 in the second half.
"(The Blazers) had a shift in energy and started boxing out and allowed less rebounds," said rookie Ausar Thomson, who scored 16 points as one of six Pistons in double figures. "We got a little stagnant, got a little rushed because they were coming back. We fell into their momentum and we just can't do that. We've got to keep playing solid basketball."
Detroit's Cade Cunningham, who scored a game-high 30 points, committed five of his six turnovers in the second half. The Pistons lost the ball 18 times in the game, continuing an early-season problem that has seen them average a league-worst 18.6 giveaways.
"The turnovers are starting to get concerning because of the timeliness and they're turning into points," Pistons coach Monty Williams said. "We talked about it in our building for a few days. Now we've got to take care of it on the floor. We've been turning it over so much, we're not getting enough shots."
Detroit had excelled on the glass, averaging an NBA-best 50.8 boards per game before Wednesday, but they were outrebounded 44-38 by Portland.
"We got outrebounded, so that tells us that the attention to detail wasn't there as far as game-plan discipline," Williams said. "We talked about that a ton about how we had to board."
Williams also lamented a significant disparity in free throws as the Blazers made 27 of 33 and the Pistons made 10 of 11.
New Orleans won both meetings with Detroit last season by six points and has won five in a row against the Pistons.
--Field Level Media