LaMarcus Aldridge picked up right where he left off last night against the Nets, hitting his first three shots, and accounted for the Spurs' first six points of the game. The Pistons went on a 7-0 run to lead 13-6 early on which led to a Spurs time-out about five minutes in. The Spurs were sluggish to start, perhaps due to a late arrival in Detroit:
Spurs had some minor weather-related travel snafu last night. Didn't roll into hotel until 3:30am or so. Energy will be worth monitoring.
— Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) January 13, 2016
The Spurs had a sloppy five turnovers in just about seven minutes of play, and the Pistons gained an eight point first quarter lead. Alrdidge was the only one who could find his shot early, with Danny Green being the only other Spur with any points on the board with three minutes left in the quarter. The Spurs simply struggled to put the ball in the for the majority of the first. They still found a way to gain the lead thanks to an 8-0 run late by the second unit, but trailed 25-24 going into the second. Manu Ginobili had seven off the bench in the first.
Manu and Boris Diaw were great off the bench to keep the Spurs in the game. Plus, Jonathon Simmons continues to show everyone why he deserves the minutes increase he's been given with plays like this one:
Jonathon Simmons shows the AVP what they're missing with this spike off a perfect set from Aaron Baynes. #S... https://t.co/Ov7sjGFHUW
— J.R. Wilco (@jollyrogerwilco) January 13, 2016
The Spurs' offense began to get going in the second as the starters came back in. Tim Duncan had eight points in about five minutes in the quarter and the Spurs slowly built up a lead. SA led 53-44 at the break. LaMarcus led all scorers with 12, while Manu had 10 off the bench. The Spurs held the Pistons to 35.6% shooting in the first half. Kawhi Leonard only had two points.
Tony Parker bursted for 14 points in five minutes to open up the second half and the Spurs built up a 17 point lead. The third quarter seemed to go by incredibly fast, as they usually do when the Spurs are putting teams away, and they went into the final quarter with a 15 point advantage. Thanks to his explosion, Tony led all scorers with 22 points through three.
Detroit cut the deficit down to eight to start the fourth led by Brandon Jennings and Andre Drummond, and suddenly the Spurs had themselves a game. Parker continued to shine and earned himself a season high 31 points, but the Pistons kept fighting and came within six with just under five minutes to go.
Tony simply had a magnificent second half to prevent the Pistons from completing their comeback. He was 13-for-18 from the field and was scoring from all over the floor, which was much needed considering SA's leading scorer, Kawhi, went 1-for-7 from the field and only had seven points. LaMarcus also had another great game, with 22 points and 13 boards. Spurs hold on and win the SEGABABA on the road, and improve to 34-6.