Brooklyn @ Detroit preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 10, 2018 ) Detroit 114, Brooklyn 80

The Detroit Pistons are sliding in the wrong direction with losses in four straight games and failed to meet the challenge against Eastern Conference playoff contenders in each of the last two contests. The Pistons will try to turn the momentum on Sunday against the visiting Brooklyn Nets, who are opening a five-game road trip.

Detroit got off to a quick start against the Washington Wizards on Friday only to be outscored 72-45 in the middle periods and fall 122-112. "Terrible. Our guys coming off the bench to start the second quarter just were not ready for the pressure that their bench guys brought," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters. "The third quarter, I really don't know what the problem was." The Nets knocked off a team with playoff aspirations with Friday's 101-95 victory over the Miami Heat. DeMarre Carroll scored 26 points for Brooklyn in the win but the most encouraging performance came from a player who managed only one point off the bench in D'Angelo Russell, who played 14 minutes in his first game since Nov. 11.

TV: 4 p.m. ET, YES (Brooklyn), FS Detroit

ABOUT THE NETS (17-29): Russell missed two months with a knee injury and Brooklyn intends to be very cautious with the 21-year-old point guard moving forward. "With D'Angelo, he's been on a regimented rehab program," Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson told reporters prior to Friday's contest. "You're talking four or five hours a day, correctives, rehab, medicals. There's a high level of responsibility to that type of program. I told D'Angelo, 'In the long run, this will be a positive for you, just having to dig in like you're digging in.'" The Nets can afford to let Russell ease his way in due to the presence of Spencer Dinwiddie, who took over as the floor leader in Russell's absence and broke out of a slump by scoring 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting against Miami.

ABOUT THE PISTONS (22-22): Detroit got its own injured young player back on Friday, when Stanley Johnson logged 12 minutes off the bench after sitting out the previous three and eight of the previous nine games with a hip injury. "He played really well, especially for a guy who hasn't played in a while," Pistons small forward Tobias Harris told the team's website of Johnson. "He let his defense fuel our energy. He did a really good job." Johnson averages 7.2 points on 34.8 percent shooting but is known more for his work on the other end and recorded a pair of steals in his brief run on Friday.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Dinwiddie is 3-of-24 from 3-point range over his last four games.

2. Pistons rookie SG Luke Kennard (thumb) scored 16 points on Friday after sitting out the previous game with a thumb injury.

3. Detroit's last win was a 114-80 rout at Brooklyn on Jan. 10.

PREDICTION: Pistons 113, Nets 102