Detroit @ Sacramento preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 4, 2017 ) Sacramento 99, Detroit 108

The Detroit Pistons played their way out of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference in large part due to their inability to win on the road. The Pistons will try to snap a 12-game road slide when they continue a six-game trip by visiting the Sacramento Kings on Monday.

Detroit fell to 9-25 away from home with a 100-87 loss at Portland on Saturday, dropping it to 0-3 on the current trip, though coach Stan Van Gundy was quick to assign blame to the referees. "I've been here four years," Van Gundy told reporters. "I've been many more years before that (elsewhere). I've never come in after a game -- never. Might have talked about one call. Never come in after a game and talked like this. That was embarrassing. We got absolutely screwed tonight." The Kings are not in a playoff race but are not laying down with wins in two of their last three games and four straight solid performances against playoff-bound opponents. Sacramento knocked off Miami and Golden State before falling at Utah 103-97 on Saturday and might have its own gripe with the officials after being out-shot at the free-throw line 38-14 in the loss.

TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS Detroit, NBCS California (Sacramento)

ABOUT THE PISTONS (30-39): Detroit dropped out of the race with losses in 13 of its last 16 games but still feels like it's putting in the right effort. "I thought we played really hard tonight," small forward Stanley Johnson told the team's website after Saturday's loss. "I thought we brought our stuff to the game. We played hard. Play hard, play together, play smart. That simple. You do that, it's going to make it tough for anybody to play well against you." Johnson was one of five players to score in double figures in the loss, managing 11 points after totaling eight in the first two games of the trip.

ABOUT THE KINGS (23-48): Sacramento ran out of gas in the fourth quarter on Saturday while playing the second night of a back-to-back on the road but got another solid performance off the bench from guard Buddy Hield. The second-year Oklahoma product is averaging 23 points on 56.8 percent shooting over the last three games and totaled 16 assists in that span. Hield and swingman Garrett Temple (11 points) both scored in double figures at Utah as the reserves outscored the starters 56-41.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Pistons C Andre Drummond grabbed at least 17 rebounds in four of the last five games.

2. Kings SG Bogdan Bogdanovic is 13-of-41 from the floor over the last three games.

3. Drummond collected 16 points and 19 rebounds in Detroit's 108-99 home win over Sacramento on Nov. 4.

PREDICTION: Kings 101, Pistons 95