Portland Trail Blazers vs Detroit Pistons Box Score on Mar 30, 2019

The suddenly short-handed Detroit Pistons snapped the Portland Trail Blazers' win streak at six with a 99-90 home victory Saturday night.

The Pistons, who improved to 39-37, have won 11 in a row at home.

The Blazers fell to 48-28, including 19-19 on the road.

Detroit won in an unlikely way, losing star forward Blake Griffin shortly before tip-off and catching fire only after a woeful first half of shooting and offense.

After pregame warmups, Griffin returned to the locker room and then took a seat on the bench with a sore left knee, ruled out for the night. Third-year pro Thon Maker stepped into the starting spot that belongs to Griffin, who is averaging a team-high 24.7 points per game.

Reggie Jackson scored a game-high 28 points and Andre Drummond added 22 to lead Detroit, with Drummond adding a game-high 19 rebounds. Maker had eight points and three rebounds in 28 minutes.

Portland lost for the first time in three games since losing center Jusuf Nurkic on Monday to a broken left leg.

Enes Kanter, who has been starting at center for Portland, had 20 points and a team-high 15 rebounds against the Pistons in 34 minutes. He was 9 of 17 from the field.

Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, after scoring two points on 1-for-8 first-half shooting, finished with 23 points, going 8 of 25 overall.

Portland, which has been awaiting the return of guard CJ McCollum (knee), got 10 points from Jake Layman, his replacement in the starting lineup. Off the bench, guard Seth Curry scored 11 points. Maurice Harkless contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Detroit missed its first nine field-goal attempts and trailed 4-0 before hitting a free throw with 7:24 remaining of the first quarter. Portland was 2 of 10 from the field at that point.

The Pistons wound up 0 for their first 13, finally making a basket with 4:48 left on Jackson's midrange jump shot. Still, they trailed only 8-4.

The quarter ended with Portland on top 14-11, and with the Blazers shooting 25.9 percent (7 of 27) to Detroit's 14.3 percent (3 of 21).

Portland led 34-31 at halftime, with Kanter at 14 points and 11 rebounds.

But the Pistons scored 35 points in the third quarter to open up a 66-59 lead.

Detroit extended its advantage to 81-70 midway through the fourth quarter.

Portland pulled to within 87-77 with three minutes left.

But the Pistons scored four straight points over the next minute, and Portland couldn't mount a comeback.

--Field Level Media