The Pistons led the West-leading Portland Trail Blazers on their court for close to 48 minutes Sunday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills.  It was the last-minute in regulation that got the Blazers into extra minutes and it was this

Damian Lillard fadeaway with one-tenth of a second left in overtime that broke the Pistons hearts.

The struggle to close games out continues for Detroit, final score 111-109.

Key Points:

• Josh Smith all scorers with 31 points on 13-of-17 shooting with seven boards, four assists a steal and a blocked shot. This was clearly the best game for Smith since coming to Detroit.

Coming into the game, Josh Smith was averaging a career-high 4.4 3-point attempts despite making just 26.9 percent of them. He finally got the message to take the ball to the rim, scoring seven of his eight first-half field goals within five feet of the basket. He surpassed his season high by making four hook shots in the third quarter. via NBA.com

• LeMarcus Aldridge continues to dominate the league and especially against Detroit.  He put up 27 points and 12 board and was the reason the Blazers got won the game.
• It’s almost torture as a Pistons fan to watch a fourth quarter of any game.  I’m going to put a Gastroenterologist on retainer soon.
• Brandon Jennings misses a triple-double with 15 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists in the loss. He’s cut down on the turnovers of late, he had just two on the night.
• Not only does Andre Drummond fill the stat lines, he can fill hearts.  Playing high school and college ball in Connecticut he wrote the names of all the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting a year ago on his shoes and donated them and his jersey after the game.

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Photo Getty Images

• Andre finished the game with 13 points, 14 boards, three steals and three blockes shots in 43:35 on the floor. He also added a few standard jaw dropping dunks and kept himself in the game getting his fifth foul mid fourth quarter.
• Greg Monroe had another healthy game and did his best against the outstanding Aldridge. Moose scored 17 with 7 boards, a steal and a blocked shot.
• I wouldn’t be surprised if Kyle Singler gets the starting nod over Caldwell-Pope soon.  Each finished with five points on the night, but Singler has played more meaningful minutes the past few games.
• Bynum was dressed but did not play.
• Recap via NBA.com

• Billups is getting time on the court but it seems to be limited.  Not sure if they are taking it easy on him since the injury or that’s what his role will be.  He will not be playing back-to-back nights, so we wont see him in Indiana. He scored six with four assists in 16 minutes on the floor.  I personally would have had him out there to take that last shot in regulation.

 

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Josh Smith: “If this doesn’t sting, I don’t know what does. When I was in Atlanta and we were young, we were in a lot of ballgames, but late down the stretch we couldn’t figure it out. A year later, we turned the corner. But those losses that we experienced in that time, they stung a little bit and they were also learning experiences. We sat down as a team and watched film. We didn’t want to watch them, but we saw reasons we lost those games and it didn’t do anything but make us better. We’ll sit down as a team and see what we’re doing wrong in late games, because this was definitely a winnable game.” Via Pistons.com

• Stuckey with 17 on 7-of-18 shooting.
• Monday night in Indiana against the Pacers is going to be rough.