The Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Detroit Pistons 96-91 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, to avoid straight losses.

Kawhi Leonard came back for the Clippers to play his first game since October 23. Judging by his performance on the court, he still had a lot of rust to shake off, especially on the offensive end after shooting 2-for-8 from the field to get six points, five rebounds and four assists.

Leonard's game-high +26 was not as dominant as it seemed, but his defensive presence made the opponents uncomfortable. The Pistons avoided facing him directly during half-court offense. However, without a solid orchestrator and good spacing, the team didn't move the ball much or smoothly.

Neither did the Clippers. Theoretically, they should be able to walk over the Pistons by counting on isolations, but the team failed to do so due to disappointing performances by Paul George and Marcus Morris, who combined to go 11-for-33 in field goals (FGs). Moreover, the Clippers committed a lot of unforced turnovers as well, which was hard to understand because their squad didn't change much compared with the last season.

The Clippers' sloppy way of dealing with the ball allowed the Pistons a lot of opportunities for easy points via fast breaks. As the team's starting guard, Jaden Ivey exploited these chances well and kept charging the opponents' paint, where he shot 7-for-14 to get 14 points. Ivey's speed and Bojan Bogdanovic's varied scoring methods were why the Pistons led in the game for almost three quarters.

The turnround happened for the Clippers in the third quarter when coach Tyronn Lue decided to use undrafted big man Moses Brown when their starting center Ivica Zubac was resting on the bench. Though Brown only played less than six minutes on Thursday night, he filled in the Clippers' paint like Zubac did with his 2.18-meter height and 111-kilogram weight. As a result, the Pistons' rookie center Jalen Duren who dominated the Clippers' small-ball squad in the first half with eight points and eight rebounds, scored nothing but one rebound in the second half.

Having suffered their 13th loss out of 16 games on Thursday, the Pistons remain at the bottom in the Eastern Conference. Their youngsters were energetic and showed some good qualities in the games, but they still have a long way to go before becoming a serious, winning franchise. That probably means when the season reaches a certain stage, other teams can start calling the Detroit Pistons's general manager to negotiate a Bogdanovic trade.

As for the Clippers, they may want to rethink their clutch time rotations. The team ranks 21st, 19th and 22nd in 3-point attempts, 3-point rate and 3-pointers made respectively, which is why Zubac, as a 2.18-meter-tall traditional center, has been playing an increasingly important role in the team, on both offense and defense. If a rookie like Duren can cause so much trouble in front of the Clippers' small-ball squad, imagine how vulnerable their defense will be against giants like Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic?

Other games on Thursday (away teams come first):

Brooklyn Nets 109-107 Portland Trail Blazers

Kevin Durant went 13-for-22 from the field to drop court-high 35 points for the Nets, at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, like he always has since the 2022-23 season began. However, he wasn't fighting alone this time. Royce O'Neale scored a triple-double of 11 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists while making the game-winning putback layup for the team at 0.7 seconds.

Moreover, Yuta Watanabe deserved the same credit as the above two. Having scored zero points in the first half, he made an offensive explosion from the third quarter, getting 20 points in the third and fourth quarters, including going 3-for-3 from downtown in the final quarter.

When Watanabe entered the NBA in 2018 as an undrafted forward, he could only count on his unretiring defense to seek a contract. However, after investing great efforts in improving his 3-poin shooting during the offseason, he is now playing a bigger role for the Nets. Watanabe's experience can be helpful to every Asian player who is trying to join the NBA.

San Antonio Spurs 112-130 Sacramento Kings

The Kings secured their fifth straight win at the Golden 1 Center on Thursday. The team's two guards, De'Aaron Fox from the starting lineup and Malik Monk from the bench, became two unstoppable firing points. Fox made eight of his 12 jumper attempts to get 28 points and eight assists while Monk drained four triples and went 5-for-8 under the rim to contribute 26 points.

The Kings will need to keep such momentum if they don't want to extend the league's longest playoff drought (16 seasons) any longer.