National Basketball Association

Spurs try to end three-game home skid against Pistons

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 10:12 p.m. ET

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You won't find San Antonio's veteran-laden roster or its venerable coach pushing any panic buttons just because the Spurs have lost three games in a row at home.

But there's certainly something amiss with one of the NBA's most consistent teams.

The Spurs will look to get back on track Friday night against the Detroit Pistons at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.

The three-game home losing streak is just San Antonio's second in the past seven seasons and first since December 2014 when it lost three straight home games in overtime.

It has been since Jan. 19-31, 2002, early in the second year of the George W. Bush's first term as President since the Spurs have lost four straight at home.

"When games are 80, 90, 100 points, there are a lot of mistakes both ways," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Wednesday after a 101-99 loss to Houston. "If you win the game, you made a lot of mistakes; if you lose the game, you made a lot of mistakes."

San Antonio (5-3) has seven new players on its roster and it's taking a while for all the pieces to fit together with the seamless efficiency the Spurs regularly employ.

It hasn't helped that starting guards Tony Parker and Danny Green haven't played together yet this season. Green missed the first seven games with a left quad injury and Parker was held out for the third straight game and fourth time this season on Wednesday against Houston because of right knee soreness. He's questionable for Friday's game.

"We're trying to figure out who we want to have on the court and who should be together," Popovich explained. "We obviously haven't figured that out yet. The effort is there and the willingness is there. So over time, making things more habitual and more organized will help us."

Detroit (4-4) might be the perfect opponent at this point of the season for San Antonio. The Pistons have been impressive and are undefeated at home, but they have are 0-4 away from the Detroit suburbs. They come into the Alamo City off a 107-100 loss at Phoenix on Wednesday.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored a season-high 27 points for the Pistons and Andre Drummond had 18 points and 14 rebounds for Detroit, which lost to the Los Angeles Clippers by 32 points on Monday.

Drummond has the most double-doubles in the NBA (119) since the beginning of the 2014-15 season. That's 17 more than runner-up Pau Gasol, who now plays for San Antonio.

"We gave the game away," Drummond said of the loss to Phoenix. "We came back in the fourth quarter with some strong plays. Then, after a timeout, we didn't come back with the energy we had to get us back in the game. It got them going and the rest is kind of history."

The Pistons went 0-2 against the Spurs last season. The teams will play one more time this season, at Detroit on Feb. 10. The Pistons have lost three of the last five games against the Spurs in San Antonio and six of the last nine overall to the Spurs.

San Antonio leads the all-time series between the teams with 53 wins in 86 games.