Pistons pull off stunner over Spurs for 6th straight win
SAN ANTONIO – The Detroit Pistons kept coming when the defending champion San Antonio Spurs took an 18-point lead.
The Pistons kept coming when the Spurs nailed them with a barrage of five triples in the fourth quarter.
They kept coming when they trailed, 104-101, with 10.8 seconds left.
And the perseverance paid off when they stole a Spurs in-bounds pass and Brandon Jennings turned it into a winning runner to give the Pistons (11-23) a stunning 105-104 victory – their sixth straight.
Jennings, suffering through a nightmarish 4-for-17 night up until that point, ran back down the floor with arms outstretched in front of a shocked AT&T Center crowd and was mobbed by his teammates when the Spurs quickly called time-out.
With only one-tenth of a second left the Spurs (22-14) were unable to get a shot off and the Pistons – who suffered through a 13-game losing streak earlier this season – had their longest winning streak since the 2008-09 season.
"It feels good," Jennings said in the jubilant – yet measured - locker room afterward. "I've never been on a six-game winning streak in my career, so this is something new, but we're still taking it one game at a time."
The Pistons' five-game streak looked finished after Patty Mills' free throw with 10.8 seconds left gave the Spurs a 104-101 lead.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich decided to foul and Jodie Meeks hit both free throws to make the score 104-103 with eight seconds left.
San Antonio used a 20-second time-out to in-bound at half-court, but the veteran Spurs mishandled the ball and somehow it found its way to Andre Drummond.
"When I saw them lose the ball, I ran towards it, but at the same time I was like, 'Is that the ball, for real?' I ran after it and gave it to (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) and he made a great pass to Brandon and Brandon made a great decision at the end of the game - instead of shooting the pull-up, he went to the basket to get a chance to make the basket or get fouled. It really worked out in our favor."
When Jennings got the pass from Caldwell-Pope, he quickly noticed there were seven seconds left. He calmly pushed it into the front-court. He was open for a three-pointer, but decided to take it to the hoop when he noticed he was guarded by a bigger player.
"Once I saw (Spurs forward Boris Diaw) on the outside, I had a good opportunity to get past him and just shot the floater off the glass," Jennings said
It's funny when you consider that Jennings didn't think he should have been on the floor do to his tough shooting night. Back-up point guard D.J. Augustin had a great game with 19 points and five assists and was breaking the Spurs defense down off pick-and-rolls.
Meanwhile, Jennings (13 points, seven assists) was missing lay-ups all night.
"D.J. really did have it going tonight," Jennings said. "He was making plays, he was getting into the lane and he played better than me tonight. If it were up to me and he would have asked me if I wanted to go back in, I probably would have told him to just let D.J. stay in there."
But Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy didn't hesitate to put Jennings back in with 3:14 left.
"The one thing Brandon will do more, which came up at the end, he will push the ball in transition a little bit more," Van Gundy said. "So that was my thinking, plus D.J. had been out there a long time.
"Again, up until 00.1 to go, it didn't look like a very good move, but at .1, I look like a genius."
The Pistons are now 6-0 since waiving Josh Smith three days before Christmas. And another tough game awaits tonight at the Dallas Mavericks, who also have a current six-game winning streak.
Vince Ellis writes for the Detroit Free Press.