Pistons vs. Pelicans final score: No Cousins, no problem as Pelicans pound Pistons 109-86

Andre Drummond might have supplied an open-handed shove to the face of Tim Frazier that got him ejected, but it was the one-two punch of Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday that proved too much for the Pistons, who fell 109-86.

It was the breakout game the Pelicans needed as they played without DeMarcus Cousins who was serving a one-game suspension. Anthony Davis took control in the first half scoring 24 of his game-high 33 points.

The Pistons, meanwhile, couldn’t throw a pebble into the ocean. Playing on the second night of a back-to-back and coming off a late-night overtime victory over the Blazers, Detroit came out with dead legs and flat shots.

The team combined to hoist 40 combined 3-points and free-throws. They made a total of six. Andre Drummond was 1-of-10 from the free-throw line, but was rebounding everything to help keep the ice-cold shooting Pistons in the game.

Drummond had just blocked a Tim Frazier shot and secured the rebound, his 17th of the night, with 1:23 remaining in the third and the Pistons down by seven. Frazier then snuck in and stole the ball back from Drummond, who immediately got entagled with Frazier as he tried to get the ball back.

Frazier took exception and gave Drummond a little shove and Drummond responded with an open handed shove right to Frazier’s face. Flagrant two and an ejection for Drummond.

Detroit managed to hoist 103 shots on the night and only made 40. Without Drummond’s offensive rebounding all hope was lost.

There was no bench brigade comeback and no Ish Smith magic in New Orleans. With no size to disrupt shots in the lane, Holiday decided it was time to take over. Holiday scored 22 points in the second half as he was able to knife into the lane at will and was too strong and too big for Detroit’s perimeter defenders to disrupt his rhythm or his shot.

The Pistons were led by Jon Leuer who scored 22 points on 23 shots. Tobias Harris contributed 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting off the bench. Detroit next plays the Sixers in Philly on Saturday.