Drummond 20 points lead Pistons to take over Grizzlies

Andre Drummond scored 20 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, and the Detroit Pistons came back from a 22-point deficit to defeat the Memphis Grizzlies 100-93 Tuesday night. Despite winning, the Pistons (40-41) were unable to clinch the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Charlotte (39-42) beat Cleveland and remains one game behind Detroit heading into Wednesday night's final regular-season games.

The Pistons finish against the Knicks at New York while the Hornets host the Orlando Magic. Detroit outscored Memphis 36-14 in the fourth quarter with reserve Ish Smith leading the way with 14 points in the period.

The Pistons, who trailed by 22 in the second quarter, climbed all the way back and took an 85-83 lead on Smith's jumper just moments after his 3-pointer tied the game at 83-all. Smith finished with 22 points off the bench, and Luke Kennard added 15 for Detroit.

Delon Wright, starting in place of the injured Mike Conley, scored 15 points and had nine rebounds for the Grizzlies. Memphis also got 15 points from Bruno Caboclo. The Pistons came out sluggish and hit only seven of their first 21 shots while Memphis shot a sizzling 73 per cent, hitting 14 of 19 shots to take a 32-20 lead after the first period.

Memphis outscored Detroit to start the second period 9-2 to open 41-22 edge on Chandler Parsons' 3-point jumper. The Grizzlies, who were playing without Conley, Jonas Valanciunas, Avery Bradley and Joakim Noah, led 50-28 on Tyler Dorsey's 3-point jumper and held a 57-38 advantage at halftime.

The Pistons cut the deficit to 11 on Kennard's trey with five minutes left in the third. Detroit scored the first 10 points of the fourth and trailed 79-74. Tyler Zeller finally ended the Memphis drought with a pair of free throws to put the Grizzlies up 81-74.

(With inputs from agencies.)