• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Blazers take on struggling Pistons

Dec 9, 2014 - 3:16 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Portland Trail Blazers shoot for their fifth consecutive victory on Tuesday night when they continue a long road trip at The Palace of Auburn Hills against the Detroit Pistons.

The Blazers have won an astonishing 13 of their last 14, but haven't made much progress moving up the Western Conference standings. The Golden State Warriors keep winning, but the Blazers started this five-game trip east with a hard- fought victory.

Portland knocked off the New York Knicks, 103-99, Sunday evening at Madison Square Garden.

LaMarcus Aldridge posted his fifth straight double-double and the All-Star was huge late in the game.

The Knicks led 97-96 late in the fourth when Aldridge made a pair of free throws to put Portland in front. Aldridge then converted a layup and after Amar'e Stoudemire's dunk had the Knicks within one, he potted a stepback jumper for a 102-99 edge.

Carmelo Anthony and Pablo Prigioni missed jumpers on the next two Knicks touches, and Wesley Matthews split a pair of free throws to seal the contest.

"I thought guys stepped up and played well," Aldridge said. "Defensively, we've grown. Making teams take mid-range shots, trying to force them into contested shots. I think overall we've gotten better."

Aldridge had 24 points and 11 rebounds, Damian Lillard scored 20 points and Matthews chipped in 18 for the Blazers, who will visit Minnesota, Chicago and Indiana on the trip.

The Pistons have been a disaster of late with 12 consecutive losses and setbacks in 15 of their last 16. Detroit has lost eight in a row inside The Palace and hasn't endured a losing streak this bad in almost five years.

The Pistons have lost 12 in a row for the first time since a 13-game skid from Dec. 15, 2009-Jan. 12, 2010. Their last win was 96-89 in overtime at Oklahoma City on Nov. 14 to snap a 10-game losing streak to the Thunder, who were without Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

The two were in the lineup on Sunday night as OKC prevailed 96-94 at The Palace.

Durant had 28 and Westbrook finished with 22.

The Thunder survived a late baseline miss from Westbrook when Josh Smith was off on a 3-pointer at the other end with 1.1 seconds remaining.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 19 points to lead the Pistons. Andre Drummond scored 16 points for Detroit, and Smith and Greg Monroe had 12 each.

Detroit was coming off an overtime loss to one-win Philadelphia on Saturday after also losing in overtime to Boston on Wednesday.

"Why don't we just go from the answers from the last two nights and run them again," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy joked at the start of his postgame news conference.

The Trail Blazers have emerged victorious in their last three meetings with the Pistons. The Pistons have won two of their last three as the host in this series.