Pistons vs. Grizzlies final score: Turnovers in Memphis end Detroit's brief winning streak

The Pistons followed up one of their best games of the season on Wednesday night when they beat the Phoenix Suns by 40 points with a 12-point loss on Friday night in Memphis. Don't let the 90-78 score fool you, though, because the Pistons were fairly competitive with one of the best teams in the NBA for most of the night.

The Pistons had the Grizzlies all knotted up at 57-57 midway through the third quarter, but turnovers by Kyle Singler and Greg Monroe on consecutive possessions led to six straight points for Memphis and soon thereafter the Grizzlies were up double digits, thanks to a 13-3 run.

Turnovers were the story of the game. Monroe had a team-high seven of them and the guy who is supposed to take care of the rock like it's his pet, Brandon Knight, had six with zero assists (deflating fart noises). The Pistons, who had 22 turnovers overall, had a few opportunities to make a run for it in the fourth quarter, but each time they pulled within eight or nine points, they turned the ball over on the next possession. It was a good exhibition on rally killing.

Of course, the Pistons did not shoot the ball particularly well, either. After a couple games of shooting an unsustainable 60 and 75 percent from three-point land, the Pistons were just 4-for-16 against the Griz. At one point, to end the third and start the fourth, the Pistons missed four three pointers in a row with no attempts at a two-point field goal in between and were 1-for-7 overall in the second half.

The Pistons didn't take to heart Corey Maggette's little pep talk after their 40-point win on Wednesday night, but they didn't stray extremely far. Turnovers can scare a team into not wanting to make the extra pass and settle for jump shots, but 15 assists on 29 baskets isn't the worst and, for the most part, they played solid defense on a very talented offensive team that was averaging close to 100 points per game before Friday night. It's just too damn hard to win against top teams when you're turning it over 22 times, but credit to the Grizzlies, because that's why they're one of the best.

Game Bullets

• Everyone but Tayshaun Prince had a turnover. Prince, shockingly, was the team's best facilitator with four assists,

• Andre Drummond played almost 19 minutes and was 2-for-3 shooting, had eight rebounds and a steal.

• Brandon Knight on his six turnovers:

"It was just carelessness and just not valuing the basketball as you should. There wasn't a whole lot of pressure. A lot of them were mishandled passes, over-dribbling and stuff like that."

• NBA.com Box score

Head over to Straight Outta Vancouver to read what they had to write about the game.