NBA News Wire
Spurs 104, Pistons 87
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Danny Green had 19 points, including five 3-pointers, and the San Antonio Spurs rolled to a 104-87 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night at The Palace.
Green, a starting shooting guard, added eight rebounds and four assists for the Spurs (34-19), who have won 15 of their last 20 games heading into the All-Star break.
Point guard Tony Parker contributed 17 points and six assists as San Antonio improved to 2-1 in its annual nine-game Rodeo Road Trip. Shooting guard Manu Ginobili added 13 points and center Aron Baynes chipped in 12.
Point guard D.J. Augustin’s 22 points and six assists led the Pistons (21-33). Shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope tossed in 20 points and center Andre Drummond added 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Pistons were held to 12 points in the opening quarter, tying their lowest output in any quarter this season. Spurs guard Patty Mills hit two 3-pointers early in the second quarter to give his club a 28-16 lead. The lead fluctuated between six and 12 the rest of the quarter and San Antonio was up 48-39 at halftime despite combined 0-of-10 shooting from power forward Tim Duncan and small forward Kawhi Leonard.
The Spurs doubled their lead to 18, 64-46, by opening the second half with a 16-7 run. They capped it with a 3-pointer from Ginobili and a mid-range jumper from Duncan. Ginobili added a bank shot in the closing seconds of the quarter to make it 82-63.
Caldwell-Pope’s three with seven minutes left cut the Spurs’ lead to 81-69. That was as close as the Pistons would get.
NOTES: Detroit reserve SFs Caron Butler (back spasms) and Cartier Martin (right ankle sprain) were out. … San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich was flooded with texts and messages from former players and coaches after his 1,000th victory on Monday. “That was the best part of the whole deal,” he said. … Detroit averaged 104.4 points on 46.8 percent shooting from the field in its first five February games. … Pistons PF Greg Monroe has 48 20-point, 10-rebound games since the 2011-12 season, an Eastern Conference high. … San Antonio has used 23 lineups this season, second only to the New York Knicks’ 26. … The Spurs are 7-0 when they reach 100 points on the road. … Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy was critical of Sacramento management over its public courting of George Karl while interim coach Ty Corbin is still in charge. “Ty was a class act as a player, he’s a class act as a coach, and he’s being treated very, very poorly,” Van Gundy said.
