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Pistons vs. Pelicans final score: Detroit loses close one in Anthony Davis' return

Anthony Davis was too much for the Detroit Pistons in his first game back after having missed five games.

By Jason Brunskowski
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Admittedly, I was unable to watch the whole game or listen to it all. I took my oldest out for his birthday dinner (turned seven today) which means I didn't get to watch the game until the second half. Then I had to put them to bed, so I missed half of the third quarter (lots of reading). So, based on what I heard on the ride home, what I saw of the third and fourth quarters, and the box score, here is the quick and dirty review of the Pistons' 88-85 loss in New Orleans.

From the beginning of the game (box score watching, with my son, at the restaurant), I was hopeful. First, I see tweets like this:

Yay, Reggie Jackson is going to have a good game. At one point, the Pistons were up by 12 in the first quarter when it was 22-10. Then Anthony Davis happened.

Davis was playing in his first game back after having missed the last five games. If you were to have watched the game without knowing that, you would have thought he was playing the best ball of his young career. Davis finished with a stat line that makes me pray Andre Drummond will some day replicate (on a regular basis). On 17-for-30 shooting, Davis had 39 points (5-for-7 from the charity stripe) to go with his team high 13 rebounds, game high three steals, and game high eight blocks. One of those blocks made Greg Monroe look small as he didn't even jump to block it and came away with a steal before Monroe fouled him.

Mind you, Drummond did not have a bad game himself. On 6-for-13 shooting, he finished with 13 points (1-for-2 from the line) to go with 18 rebounds and six blocks of his own. Though he played the second most minutes on the team, that was actually limited due to foul trouble in the second and third quarters. He even went to the bench within 30 seconds of the start of the third quarter, but was back within a minute.

Monroe lead the Pistons in minutes with 37 and had himself a double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Moose also contributed five assists. However, those were opposed by five turnovers.

While Jackson started the game off well, he had himself a cold streak. After making his first three shots, he would miss seven of his next eight shots. He also would finish with a double-double with 14 points, 11 assists and two steals opposite four turnovers. However, if it wasn't for Jackson towards the end, the Pistons would not have made this as close of a game as it was.

Jodie Meeks saw his offense return to him by scoring 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting. However, that is all that he provided as the rest of his stat line consists of one rebound, two steals and two turnovers.

Shawne Williams was perfect from the field. He made his only shot which was a 3-foot layup. Due to Drummond's foul trouble, Joel Anthony also saw some action.

Unfortunately, this loss puts the Pistons even further back in the playoff race.

Now your thoughts.

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