Detroit Pistons vs San Antonio Spurs - November 11, 2016 2016-17 NBA Season [HD, 1280x720p]

meteoalex 2016-11-12

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SAN ANTONIO -- Pau Gasol signed with San Antonio because he believes the Spurs can win the NBA championship.

He knows the Spurs cannot achieve that goal if they keep playing lethargically at home, so the 16-year veteran helped change that.

Gasol had season highs with 21 points and six assists, and San Antonio snapped a three-game home losing streak with a 96-86 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Friday night.

"I think he got tired of losing," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

Gasol was 10 for 16 from the field as San Antonio snapped its longest home skid since dropping three straight in December 2014.

After winning their home opener against New Orleans, the Spurs lost to Utah, the Los Angeles Clippers and Houston. San Antonio went 40-1 last season to match the league record at home.

"You just can't afford to lose at home, period," Gasol said. "We just needed to snap out of that bad streak at home and start playing with some fire."

Gasol, who also had nine rebounds and two blocked shots, had 13 points in the opening quarter. It was the most points he has scored in any half this season and was his second-highest total this year.

"(San Antonio was) definitely much more aggressive from the beginning," Gasol said. "Established a good pace and we needed to as a team collectively to get off a good start because we haven't done that lately at home."

Kawhi Leonard had 17 points and LaMarcus Aldridge added 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Spurs.

Tony Parker added seven points and four assists in 21 minutes after missing the previous three games with a sore right knee.

Andre Drummond matched his season high with 20 points and added 17 rebounds in Detroit's third straight loss.

"I'm not upset at anybody," Detroit coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I thought we played the game well. As a matter of fact, in terms of both defense and ball movement, putting both ends of the floor together, that's one of our best games of the year."

After trailing by 13 points in the fourth quarter, Detroit held San Antonio to two points in a four-minute span to pull within 89-84 with 2 minutes remaining. Leonard's 3-pointer ended the drought and helped seal the victory.

"The team is still trying to improve," Parker said. "We have a lot of guys to try and put in our team like Pau. Everybody is trying to find their role in this team. And so, we'll be fine. It's going to take some time."

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