While the Detroit Pistons have been able to take advantage of a stretch in their schedule that has had them mostly facing teams with losing records, they haven't made it easy on themselves.
After barely beating a team with the NBA's worst record, the Pistons look to win their third straight game as they try to cool off the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night.Detroit (16-11) has struggled all season to build momentum, but it's been given a good chance to do so over the last two weeks thanks to a string of games against struggling opponents.
The Pistons have won five of their last seven, with all of the victories coming against teams with losing records. Still, Detroit has hardly been dominant, winning those games by an average of only 6.0 points and needing a late Allen Iverson jumper to beat Oklahoma City 90-88 on Friday.
The Thunder are an NBA-worst 3-27.
Iverson had totaled just 15 points in the previous two games, and was coming off an 0-for-7 performance against Chicago in which he strained a groin on Tuesday. He was 9-of-17 from the field on Friday and scored 14 in the fourth quarter.
"That was a great play by Allen," Pistons first-year coach Michael Curry said of the game-winner. "He hadn't had much going for him in the first three quarters, but then he took over the game."
The Pistons are hoping for an easier time against another opponent with a losing record, although Milwaukee (14-16) has hardly played like a sub-.500 team lately.
The Bucks have won three straight and five of their last six, including a 94-86 victory over Utah on Tuesday. Though Milwaukee shot 38.8 percent from the field and was 1-of-16 from 3-point range, Michael Redd scored 27 points to help the Bucks overcome those woes.
"It's huge for us," said Luke Ridnour, who had 11 points, 11 assists and six steals. "A couple of weeks ago, we might not have won this game, shooting the way we did. We wouldn't have gotten the stops we needed. Sometimes your offense can affect your defense, but tonight we were able to push through it.
"Nobody hung their heads, and we just kept fighting."
Milwaukee's winning streak is its longest this season. It's also won a season-high five straight at home by an average of 14.4 points, while holding opponents to 92.0 points. Two of those victories came against division rivals after the Bucks had lost their first four to Central Division foes.
"We've still got a lot of work to do," Redd said. "The playoff race is going to be tight down the stretch, and we have to continue to grind it out. That was a grindout game."
The Pistons beat the Bucks 107-97 on Nov. 28 for their seventh win in the last eight meetings between the teams.
