Pistons vs. Wizards final score: Strong second half in second game of back-to-back propels Detroit by Washington

What happened:

The Pistons got down by as many as 10 in the first half and trailed by eight at the end of the second quarter. The Wizards were shooting 56 percent from the field and 60 percent from three. Same story, different night and city.

But the second half took a turn for the strange. In uncharacteristic fashion, the Pistons did the opposite of second-half collapsing by scoring 33 points in the third quarter and holding the Wizards to 44 points in the entire second half.

Ironically, it was three Josh Smith jump shots and a Brandon Jennings three in the third that brought the Pistons all the way back and into the lead. The Wizards tied the score a few times after that, but the Pistons never fell behind again.

The Wizards were down four with a couple minutes left in the game, but JOSH SMITH made two FREE THROWS and then answered a John Wall floater with a made JUMPER to put the Pistons up six. Back down four with 20 seconds left, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope came up with a steal on Martell Webster to all but seal it.

What stood out:

Maurice Cheeks went with lineups in the second half that could play some defense and - imagine that - the Pistons were able to shut the Wizards down a little bit. For example, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope played 21 of 24 second-half minutes. Perhaps it was a bit of the Wiz regressing to the mean, but after shooting 6 for 10 from three in the first half, they were just 2 for 11 in the second half.

Who stood out:

Rodney Stuckey, Josh Smith and John Wall.

Stuckey followed up a strong performance in the first half on Friday night with another, scoring 13 of his 20 in the first 24 minutes.

Josh Smith did a 180 between halves. After going 0 for 6 (0 for 2 from three) in over 14 first-half minutes, he scored 20 on 8-for-11 shooting (0 for 1 from three) in the second half.

I'll throw John Wall in here because, albeit the fact he wasn't very point guardy, he scored 34 points and nearly successfully took the game into his own hands in the final minutes, scoring the Wizards' final 10 points.

Bullets:

-- Greg Monroe bounced back with 12 and 10 on 5-for-7 shooting.

But... but... but...(click on that tweet's link and see the back and forth -- it'll drive you mad)

Monroe is such a load on the offensive glass. Still think I’d happily take him and work through the defensive issues.

— Mike Prada (@MikePradaSBN) January 19, 2014

-- Andre Drummond had 10 and 13 on 5-for-6 shooting. No blocks.

-- Kyle Singler was 5 for 6 off the bench, which means Singler and Drummroe were a combined 15-for-19 shooting (79%) with 36 points. Smith finished with 14 fewer points on only 2 fewer shots. Just sayin'.

-- It's kind of amazing how bad of a shooter Brandon Jennings is...

-- It's always interesting to read the other side's perspective: Here's Bullets Forever's recap.

-- Box Score

-- Bynum played some strong minutes, even if his numbers don't jump out at you when looking at the box score. He had a really impressive and-one a couple minutes into the fourth that felt big.

-- KCP played most of the second half, but was horrible shooting the basketball (2 for 10).

-- The Trevors were no shows. The Pistons achieved all 3 of my keys! Or 2.5 of them at least.

-- The Pistons moved back into the playoff picture with this win, their 16th in their last 20 against the Wizards. The Pistons are now a No. 7 seed, currently matching up with the Miami Heat.

-- The Pistons have a Monday matinee at 1 p.m. ET hosting the Clippers.

-- Roll Call