Spurs-Pistons Preview

When the San Antonio Spurs meet the Detroit Pistons on the road Monday night, that will be their 41st game of the season. And the halfway point of the season is a good time to take stock of what the season has been so far and where the Spurs (23-17) are heading.

And that's toward a playoff spot.

San Antonio enters the game on a four-game winning streak and sits in the sixth spot in the Western Conference standings after a convincing 108-88 win at home over Memphis on Saturday.

LaMarcus Aldridge has led the Spurs during the streak, averaging 27.8 points. He's the team's second-leading scorer on the year, averaging 19.9 points, trailing DeMar DeRozan and his 22.6 points per game.

The play of relative unknown Derrick White also has fueled San Antonio. He led the Spurs with 19 points in the win over Memphis, representing the first time this season he led the team in scoring. He's averaging 7.6 points in 31 games played.

"We owed them one," White said following the game against Memphis. "We just wanted to come out here and continue to build off the winning streak we are on right now."

Detroit enters the game heading in the opposite direction.

The Pistons have gone 5-13 since Dec. 1 and are coming off a crushing home loss to Utah on Saturday, a game that saw Detroit blow an 18-point, first-quarter lead.

Pistons head coach Dwane Casey has been imploring his team to get off to better starts in games this season, and for once, the Pistons obliged against Utah.

But that great start was erased by a second-half collapse that saw the Pistons struggle with turnovers in crunch time.

"I thought the heart, the fight and the way we started the game is the way you have to play in this league every possession," Casey said. "I thought our starters came out and did that. The second unit usually are the ones that come in and really move the ball. We didn't have that in the second quarter and then it continued in the second half with our turnovers down the stretch."

With the loss, the Pistons (17-20) moved a half-game behind Charlotte for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference going into Sunday.

"For us, maintaining the focus of taking care of the basketball and making good decisions when the other team turns up the heat, we've got to learn to do that and take care of the ball," Casey said.

This will be the first of two meetings between the teams this season. The rematch will be on Feb. 27 in San Antonio.