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Pistons put up a fight, but Clippers big guns carry the day

The turkey's going to be dry, the stuffing bland, the pumpkin pie mushy.

We know this because a five-course meal at a five-star Paris bistro wouldn't get it done for the Pistons right now. That's life when you're 3-12 and riding a five-game losing streak that's piled one frustrating, near-miss loss after another.

"I thought we had a lot of guys play well. I thought we played much harder. I thought we played with much more energy," Stan Van Gundy said after the Pistons lost their traditional Thanksgiving eve game at The Palace, this one 104-98 to one of the West's legitimate title contenders, the Clippers.

"It's just frustrating to me that I couldn't find a way, either in terms of defensive scheme or in terms of something to run offensively, to help our guys a little bit more down the stretch."

The Pistons took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter and they wound up with a healthy 25-point output in the period, but scored just two points in the first five minutes. By the time Jonas Jerebko's 20-footer broke the dam, the Clippers had an eight-point lead. It grew to 11 with under five minutes to play when the Pistons charged again, getting it within two points with 2:39 to play.

Chris Paul then fed Blake Griffin for a layup and hit a dagger triple sandwiched around a Pistons missed three. Paul and Jamaal Crawford had brilliant second halves, combining for 31 of their 48 points. Paul scored 14 in the third quarter and made all six of his shots after playing the first half on autopilot, efficiently but not spectacularly, and Crawford scored 14 in the fourth.

"They're some of the best in the league," Pistons rookie Spencer Dinwiddie – himself a big part of the game's narrative – said of Paul and Crawford. "Jamaal has made his reputation for being one of if not the best sixth man in the league and CP3 has made his name for being one of if not the best point guard in the league. You know that going into the matchup and you expect great things when you play them."

Van Gundy opened the game with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope guarding Paul and kept him there whenever he could while starting point guard D.J. Augustin – Brandon Jennings missed his second straight with a sprained left thumb – covered J.J. Redick. When Doc Rivers countered by pairing Crawford and Paul, Van Gundy had to switch Caldwell-Pope over to the rangy Crawford.

"We couldn't stop them," Van Gundy said. "And those two guys went off on us in the fourth and we couldn't get shots."

Dinwiddie, who played his first regular-season minutes at point guard at Milwaukee on Tuesday, looked remarkably more poised and NBA ready in his second game at the position. He logged 17 minutes and contributed 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting, making half his four 3-point tries, and four assists without a turnover.

"I thought he played confidently and made plays. A good step forward for him," Van Gundy said. "Last night was really his first shot playing the point and so he got one night under his belt. He took a big step forward. You've got to give him a lot of credit for that."

Van Gundy even played Dinwiddie for the final 10 minutes of the game, he was playing so well, and it's not like he didn't have another good option. Augustin gave the Pistons 19 points and six assists on 35 minutes and shot 7 of 14. They played in tandem for the final three minutes.

"I thought they played very well tonight, I really did," Van Gundy said. "Both those guys played extremely well and hard."

"He played well," said Caldwell-Pope, like Dinwiddie only 21. "He stepped up to the challenge when his number was called. He just came out and played."

Dinwiddie understood what it meant for him to be on the court in a game against an elite NBA team – with an elite backcourt pairing – at crunch time with his team so very desperately needing a psyche-cleansing win.

"I just think it's big because it shows Stan has more growing confidence in me and that's going to be the key for me getting more minutes on the floor," he said.

The third 21-year-old Piston also had himself a pretty good game. Andre Drummond and DeAndre Jordan are the NBA's most consistently dominant rebounders – Jordan and Drummond entered the game 1-2 in the NBA in games with 10-plus rebounds since the start of the 2013-14 season – and Drummond more than held his own against a player he beat out for a berth on the U.S. National team that won gold in the summer's FIBA World Cup. Drummond finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

Big individual performances and valiant near-misses, though, have already grown wearisome for a team tired of explaining what went wrong down the stretch.

"I can't read minds," Caldwell-Pope said when asked to assess the team's mind-set. "I think everybody's still good, but we just ... a little frustration, but we've got to still stay together and keep it moving."

"I've not been at this point before, so ... yeah, it's hard," Van Gundy said. "But, look, I was encouraged. Our guys played hard and well tonight, I thought, against a very good team. We've just had a lot of these – competitive, close enough, didn't get it done. So it starts to get frustrating. From a coaching standpoint, I want to win badly for selfish reasons, but I want them to win, too. And you feel like you should be able to do a little bit more to help them and that's sort of where I'm at right now. That's how I'm feeling. Not down on myself. I'm not blaming myself. My responsibility as much as theirs. But it's not a matter of blame. I just feel like I'd like to be able to help them a little bit more."