DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – San Antonio shot 55 percent from the floor as they held off Detroit, 121-109, on Friday night. Ending their five-game road trip, it looked like the Pistons had run out of gas as their bench scored just 28 points. Coming into the game, Detroit had been leading the NBA in bench points since November 18 at 48.6 points per game.
Jaden Ivey, who had 20 points and five assists, said, “We didn’t dictate the ball at the start of the first half. I feel like it comes early, early in the game, you’ve got to get into a rhythm defensively. Just the first half we had some lapses that made them more comfortable late game. That’s on us to figure out how to put us in better position defensively. That hurt us the whole game.”
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Bojan Bogdanovic led the team with 21 points as Killian Hayes added 18 points, seven assists, and five steals. Isaiah Stewart and Jalen Duren each had 11 points and Saddiq Bey added 10 points.
After Bogdanovic tied the game at two just 45 seconds into the game, San Antonio went up by five points, 16-11, by the 5:45 mark. Bogdanovic then cut the lead to one, 26-25, with 1:47 left in the quarter but the Spurs finished with a three-point lead, 31-28.
Ivey put Detroit in the lead, 40-38, in the second quarter at the 6:12 mark and then Hamidou Diallo made it a four-point lead on a dunk with 5:26 to go. The Spurs bounced back to take a 46-49 lead by the 1:36 mark keeping the lead through the end of the half, 51-48.
Detroit started the third quarter off on a 8-3 run for a 56-54 lead on a Duren dunk at 9:40. Duren then completed a three-point play at 9:03 making it 59-56. With the game tied at 65 and 5:55 to play in the quarter, San Antonio finished the quarter on a 21-11 run for a 10-point lead, 86-76.
Bey brought the Spurs lead down to five, 91-86, on a dunk at 9:44 in the fourth quarter. That is as close as the Pistons would come the rest of quarter as San Antonio took the win, 121-109.
Detroit will be back at home on Sunday when they host Philadelphia at 3:00 p.m.
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