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While the New Orleans NBA team struggles to score, a New Orleans area native left his hometown team and fans singing the blues Saturday night.
Former Helen Cox star Greg Monroe had a monster game, pumping in 24 points and pulling down 16 rebounds as the Detroit Pistons held off the New Orleans Hornets 89-87 before a crowd of 13,174 at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
It was competitive throughout. In a game that featured 12 lead changes and three ties, Detroit took the lead for good on a Jason Jerebko basket early in the fourth quarter at 67-65. The Pistons went on a 10-0 run to open up a 75-65 lead and fought off the Hornets the rest of the way.
Down the stretch, New Orleans had chances but committed turnovers on three consecutive possessions to doom their chances. In all, the Hornets turned it over four times in the fourth quarter and 15 times in the game.
Detroit hammered New Orleans inside, outscoring the Hornets 52-36 in the paint, largely thanks to Monroe, who dominated Okafor and company inside.
New Orleans was thin on the front line after Carl Landry went down with an apparent knee injury when Jason Maxiell fell on his knee. In the fourth quarter, Jason Smith went down for the game after getting hit in the head. It was a very physical game. Detroit lost talented rookie Brandon Knight in the first quarter with a broken nose. He did not return.
Trevor Ariza had his best game thus far, scoring a season high 26 points and pulling down seven rebounds with four assists and two steals. He was 9-of-12 from the field.
Al Farouq Aminu came off the New Orleans bench to score 14 points, his second highest total of the season. Starting his second straight game, Greivis Vasquez scored 14 points, handed out nine assists, pulled down six rebounds and had a pair of steals. After a slow start offensively, Vasquez scored seven straight points in the fourth quarter to pull the Hornets within one point at 75-74, the closest they would get in the period.
Rodney Stuckey added 17 points while Tayshaun Prince and Jason Jerebko each had 11 points while Jason Maxiell scored 10 points for the Pistons.
The Pistons killed the Hornets with second chance points as they had 15 offensive rebounds in the game.
The win was the second in as many nights for the Pistons, now 6-20 on the season.
The Hornets fell to 4-20 with their fifth straight loss, their 13th loss in 14 games and their 20th in their last 22 games.
New Orleans played without Jarrett Jack once again due to his sore knee. They hope to get him back Monday night when they host Sacramento though that is a question mark. The status of Landry and Smith is yet to be determined. New Orleans will get Chris Kaman back Monday night and with Landry and Smith being hurt, he may have to play big minutes.
The effort was good enough by the Hornets against Detroit but once again, they simply did not have enough firepower to pull it off.
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