By Mike Whitaker DETROIT – After Friday night’s loss to the Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons forward Blake Griffin openly questioned his team’s desire to “fight” and earn victories. Safe to say, his teammates responded in a big way the first chance they got. Griffin and the Pistons (7-13) turned in their most complete game of the young season on Sunday night, blowing out the San Antonio Spurs (7-14) in blowout fashion with a 132-98 victory. The win ended a two-game skid, and the 34-point margin of victory was the largest this season. “Yes,” Griffin responded when asked if he saw the fight he alluded to following the previous game. “Doing the little things, executing our game plans, stuff like that, so definitely saw that fight, which is a step in the right direction.” Christian Wood tallied a career high 28 points (11-14 FG, 2-3 3PT) to lead the Pistons, his third double-double of the year. Guard Luke Kennard notched his ninth game with at least 20 points on the season (20 PTS, 8-12 FG) while Svi Mykhailiuk added 13. The Spurs were led by DeMar DeRozan with 20 points (6-12 FG, 1-3 3PT); DeMarre Carroll added 13 off the bench. For Wood, he’s continuing to do things to impress head coach Dwane Casey, who still wants to see more consistency from him. “He’s a talent,” Casey said of Wood. “There are nights he does things like that and there are nights he doesn’t. But tonight, he strung it together defensively and offensively….like I said, he’s a talented young man, he just has to get the thinking into the game and continue to do that.” The Pistons will head to Cleveland for a matchup against the Cavaliers on Tuesday at 6:30 PM EST. |
