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Confident Pistons head to Milwaukee

Dec 4, 2013 - 3:21 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Detroit Pistons are coming off their biggest win of the season, but will need to stay focused Wednesday night when they visit the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Pistons knocked off the two-time defending NBA champion Miami Heat in South Beach Tuesday night, 107-97. It was the second win in a row for the Pistons and snapped a 10-game winning streak for the Heat, who were held to a season-low field-goal percentage.

"It is a great feeling," said center Andre Drummond. "We played all 48 (minutes) tonight. We played hard the whole game. We didn't let up off the gas. We just took advantage of the lead that we had and just kept pushing forward."

Up 14 after three quarters and ahead by as many as 17 during the fourth, the Pistons withstood Miami's fourth-quarter rally, which closed the margin to three points.

The Pistons came into the game first in the NBA in two major categories -- steals and points in the paint. They utilized those two parts of their game to win Tuesday. Detroit came up with 11 steals and converted 19 Miami turnovers into 29 points.

Additionally, the Pistons held a 60-48 scoring advantage in the paint.

Seven Detroit players scored in double figures, led by Kyle Singler, who had 18 on 4-for-7 shooting from long range. Greg Monroe, Rodney Stuckey, Josh Smith, Brandon Jennings, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Drummond all broke double-digits in scoring.

Drummond had 18 rebounds in 22:37 of foul-plagued action.

The Bucks failed in their attempt at winning back-to-back games for the first time this season. On Tuesday, Milwaukee dropped the finale of a home-and-home series with the Boston Celtics, 108-100 in Beantown.

The Bucks bested Boston on Saturday to snap an 11-game slide, but the C's knocked down 11 3-pointers en route to victory Tuesday.

O.J. Mayo led the way for Milwaukee with 19 points, followed by 15 from Brandon Knight. Khris Middleton chipped in 14 and John Henson contributed 11 points.

Caron Butler missed his third straight game with a bad knee.

So it's back to the drawing board for a Bucks team that is 2-1 against the Celtics and 1-13 versus the rest of the league.

"We are getting there man. We just gotta keep trying to push and keep trying to win," said Henson. "I think playing together, the more we play together the more we are going to feel each other out and it's going to be better."

The Pistons, who close out this short road trip in Chicago on Saturday, beat the Bucks on Nov. 25 in Detroit and have taken four of the last five against the Bucks. Detroit has won two in a row in Brew City, where the Bucks play four of their next six.