Detroit Pistons at San Antonio Spurs

Spurs beat Pistons 106-91 to snap 5-game home skid

Detroit’s bench closed to 84-81 with 7:20 remaining but San Antonio went on a 13-1 run to seal the victory.

“When you do that, it adds to your experience,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Makes you feel a little more confident and you learn an NBA game is a long time, and you just have keep on trucking.”

Lonnie Walker added 18 points and Rudy Gay had 14 for San Antonio.

Josh Jackson had 29 points to lead Detroit. At 18-42, the Pistons have the worst record in the Eastern Conference.

The Spurs have won three of four to move into ninth in the Western Conference ahead of the Golden State Warriors. They would face each other in the play-in tournament if the standings remain the same.

San Antonio swept the two-game series with Detroit, winning both by double digits.

The Pistons and Spurs were both short-handed Friday with less than a month remaining in the regular season.

Detroit was without Wayne Ellington, Jerami Grant, Cory Joseph, Rodney McGruder, Mason Plumlee, Dennis Smith Jr. and Hamidou Diallo. Ellington and Plumlee sat out for rest and injuries sidelined the rest.

San Antonio was without DeMar DeRozan, Dejounte Murray and Patty Mills, who were all late scratches to its lineup. Murray and Mills sat out for rest on the second night of a back-to-back and DeRozan missed the game with a bruised right quadricep.

The Spurs dug deep into their bench and received a crisp and balanced effort with seven players scoring at least five points.

After shooting 40% from the field and 29% on 3-pointers in a 20-point loss to Miami on Wednesday, San Antonio shot 46% from both against Detroit.

“My focus is on defense and then on offense I try to be productive within my role and try to be aggressive when there is an opportunity,” Poeltl said. “Tonight, we had a couple of guys out, so I think we needed a little bit more on offense. We had some good motion going on the pick and roll.”

The Spurs’ backups scored 33 points and committed just three turnovers.

The Pistons had 17 turnovers, which resulted in 22 points.

“The mistakes we made were fundamental mistakes,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey said. “One-hand passes trying to squeeze it into places where it’s not. Just making some uncharacteristic non-fundamental passes and plays that a lot of young players make in this league.”

Frank Jackson finished with 14 points and Killian Hayes had 10 points and five assists.

TIP-INS

Pistons: Detroit is 7-26 on the road this season. … Joseph missed the game as part of an injury management for a sore left ankle, Smith has a sore left knee and McGruder has a sprained right elbow. Grant and Diallo both sat out with a bruised left quadriceps. … Hayes played after sitting out Wednesday’s game against Dallas as the team manages the rookie’s minutes after he missed all but three games in January through March with a hip injury. Hayes started after initially being listed as out. … Josh Jackson averaged 22 points in two games against the Spurs this season.

Spurs: Johnson jogged back to the locker room followed closely by trainer Will Sevening with 6 minutes remaining in the first quarter after being substituted for. Johnson took a shot earlier in the quarter while on offense and fell to the floor, where he remained for about 30 seconds before rising and continuing to play. Johnson returned to the team’s bench with 2:50 remaining in the first and re-entered the game in the second quarter without any noticeable injury. He finished with 10 points and seven rebounds in 30 minutes. … Trey Lyles missed his 14th straight game with a sprained right ankle.

UP NEXT

Pistons: At Indiana on Saturday.

Spurs: At New Orleans on Saturday.

Regular Season Series

SA leads series 2-0