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Pistons head south to battle Pelicans

Dec 11, 2013 - 3:20 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - At least the Detroit Pistons don't have much time to dwell on their recent lopsided loss when they pay a visit to the New Orleans Pelicans Tuesday night.

The Pistons were slammed by the Minnesota Timberwolves, 121-94, on Tuesday at The Palace of Auburn Hills in the return of Kevin Love, who was out due to the death of his grandmother. Love led the T'Wolves with 26 points and 16 rebounds, while Brandon Jennings' 20 points paced the Pistons.

Josh Smith scored 17 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 16 points in Detroit's second straight loss after a four-game win streak.

"We have to go back to the drawing board, we have a game tomorrow so we have to get ready for that one," Caldwell-Pope said. "We have to just let this one go and get ready for the next game."

Pistons rising star Andre Drummond was held to eight points and eight boards, and entered the game averaging 18.3 points and 17.5 rebounds in his past four games. Greg Monroe finished with 10 points in defeat.

On the bright side, Detroit has won four in a row on the road for a 5-5 mark away from The Palace.

New Orleans has dropped three in a row in the Big Easy and will resume a four- game homestand Tuesday. It is 0-2 on the homestand after losses to Dallas and Oklahoma City, and is coming off Friday's 109-95 setback to the Thunder.

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook scored 29 and 25 points, respectively, for Oklahoma City and Serge Ibaka added 17 points and 13 rebounds.

The Pelicans were led by Ryan Anderson's 18 points and both Eric Gordon and Jrue Holiday chipped in 16. Tyreke Evans added 11 points off the bench for New Orleans, which had won six of eight games before the recent slide and committed 16 turnovers for 24 OKC points.

"I don't know if we got away from it or if we were just a bit intimidated because we were missing so much," said Pelicans coach Monty Williams.

Evans is expected to miss one to two weeks with a sprained left ankle for a Pelicans squad already toiling without young star Anthony Davis because of a broken bone on his left hand.

New Orleans will wrap up the homestand Friday versus Memphis and is 5-5 in the Crescent City this season. It took both meetings with Detroit a season ago and is 6-3 in the previous nine games in this series.

Detroit has lost its last four trips to the bayou.