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Pistons welcome Pelicans to The Palace

Jan 24, 2014 - 2:50 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Detroit Pistons will try to put the brakes on a two- game losing streak Friday night when they welcome the New Orleans Pelicans to The Palace of Auburn Hills.

The Pistons fell at home on Monday afternoon to the Los Angeles Clippers, but on Wednesday, Detroit allowed the Milwaukee Bucks to end a nine-game losing streak. The Pistons fell to their Central Division rivals, 104-101, at the Bradley Center.

Brandon Jennings poured in 30 points against his former team, Rodney Stuckey scored 23 and Greg Monroe added 18 points, nine rebounds and four assists for the Pistons, losers in three of their last four games overall.

"It's important we keep the attitude and intensity. I think we got a little comfortable, but we can't let that happen," Jennings said. "No matter what their record is, that's an NBA team over there."

Andre Drummond turned in 11 points and 12 boards in the setback. He received some good news on Thursday when he was among the 28 players USA Basketball selected for its men's national team pool for 2014-16.

The Pelicans ended an eight-game losing streak on Monday with a 95-92 victory in Memphis over the Grizzlies.

They got back to their losing ways on Tuesday with a 114-97 home loss to the Sacramento Kings. Rudy Gay scored 41 points to tie a career high and the Kings rolled the Pelicans at New Orleans Arena.

Tyreke Evans scored 17 points, Anthony Davis had 16 and Brian Roberts chipped in 15 points for the Pelicans, who have lost nine of their last 10.

"We just didn't have a lot of juice collectively from our starters tonight," said Pelicans coach Monty Williams.

Coach was right. The starting five of Davis, Roberts, Eric Gordon, Greg Stiemsma and Al-Farouq Aminu combined for 47 points with 31 of those coming from Davis and Roberts.

New Orleans allowed the Kings to shoot 70 percent from the field in the first quarter and 51.2 percent for the game. Sacramento scored 21 points off of the Pelicans' 15 turnovers.

There is nothing new on the injury front for the Pelicans. Jrue Holiday, Ryan Anderson and Jason Smith are all out for the foreseeable future, although the Pelicans franchise did get a boost on Thursday.

Davis was once again named to the USA Basketball pool. He was on the gold- medal winning team in London in 2012. Williams will serve as one of Mike Krzyzewski's assistants on the national team.

The Pelicans beat the Pistons in overtime on Dec. 11 in New Orleans. The Pelicans have taken three in a row in the series, but Detroit has won three of its last four at home.