Pistons drop exhibition finale to Grizzlies at home
Sam Young scored 16 points, nine in the fourth quarter, as the Pistons fell to the Grizzlies, 106-103, in Detroit's preseason finale tonight at the Palace.
Austin Daye scored 22 points and Rodney Stuckey added 18 points and seven assists. Charlie Villanueva scored 15 points off the bench, Richard Hamilton added 14 points and Tayshaun Prince had 11 points and seven rebounds.
“I had a lot of shots rattle in and out in the first half,” Daye said. “In the second, they were falling. I thought we were going to pull away, but we just didn’t have it tonight.”
The Pistons end the preseason 3-5 and open the regular season Wednesday at the Nets.
Ben Gordon left the game in the first half with a bruised shoulder. Will Bynum, Jason Maxiell, Tracy McGrady and Chris Wilcox did not play.
“Ben looked at me in the second half, and said he couldn’t go,” Pistons coach John Kuester said. “That cut us down another body, so we had to give our young guys a lot of chances.”
Villanueva canned a three at the 4:23 mark of the fourth to give Detroit a 94-92 lead. After Haddadai's layup tied the game again, the Pistons scored six straight and led, 100-94, with 3 minutes to play.
Detroit was up four with about a minute left, but Young split a pair of free throws, the Pistons turned the ball over, and Young followed with three-pointer to tie the game.
After a timeout, Pistons rookie Greg Monroe drew a shooting foul and made one of two free throws. Young answered with a driving layup, while being fouled. He hit the free throw to give Memphis a two-point lead with 22.6 seconds left.
Detroit called another timeout, but Stuckey missed a jump shot and Memphis got the rebound, sealing the win.
Marc Gasol also scored 16 points for the Grizzlies, who are 7-0 in the preseason. O.J. Mayo added 15 points and Darrell Arthur had 14 points and six defensive rebounds. Rookie Xavier Henry had 13 points and Tony Allen scored 12.
Down one entering the fourth quarter, the Pistons got a spark from a Villanueva block on Hamed Haddadi's shot. The Pistons answered with an 8-0 run in which Villanueva and Daye each scored three. But Memphis fired back with an 8-0 run, thanks to six points from Darrell Arthur, who converted on an alley oop to give the Grizzlies a 90-89 lead with 6:10 to go.
No more than four points separated the two teams throughout the third quarter. Stuckey's pull-up jumper with 5:46 remaining in the period make it 73-69 Detroit. But the Grizzlies scored the next five points, capped by Mayo's three-point play, to take the lead. The Pistons trailed, 80-79, at the end of three quarters.
The game was tied at 55 at halftime.
