Tobias Harris had 22 points and eight rebounds while Andre Drummond added 12 and 18 as the Detroit Pistons keep their playoff hopes alive after routing the Sixers 111-91 on Wednesday.
The Pistons were coming off a huge win against the East leading Cleveland Cavaliers, and they carried their momentum from that game, showing no mercy against the league-worst Sixers.
"I thought our defense was really good, especially early in the game," said Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy. ""They only got 20 points in the first quarter, and that included a banked-in 3 to beat the shot clock and a three-quarters court shot at the end..Our offense was a mess at times, but our defense was good until the last few minutes."
Hollis Thompson scored 19 points off the bench for the Sixers, whose starters shot a disastrous 12 for 41 in the game for 30 points. 13 of those came from rookie Jahlil Okafor.
Despite missing the services of injured players Anthony Tolliver and Stanley Johnson, the Pistons seemed to have no problem dealing with the lowly Sixers. Detroit led by as many as 30 points in the third quarter.
"We've lost some guys with Stanley and A.T. being down, but other guys are stepping and picking up the slack," Drummond said.
One of those guys who helped the Pistons offensively is Reggie Bullock, who came off the bench and scored 16 points.
The 76ers, despite having promising bigs in Okafor and Nerlens Noel, failed to keep up with the frontline of the Pistons that saw Harris score at ease (9 for 12 shooting) and Drummond have another great rebounding game.
"I knew that was going to be tough, because Tobias is a player that I've liked for a long time. He can play 4-3 or he can play 3-4," said Sixers head coach Brett Brown.
The Pistons shot 52 percent for the game as compared to 35 percent for the 76ers.
Facts of the Night
The Pistons-Sixers game saw a small crowd because of a snow storm in Detroit.
Despite leading althroughout the game, Pistons coach Van Gundy kept on yelling on his players. He called for a time-out and scolded them despite leading 64-48. "I think we were trying to be unselfish, but we were really sloppy. We were throwing passes all over the place, but at least we were trying to move the ball," he explained.
Six Pistons scored in double figures, with Aaron Baynes a point away from making that seven.
Joel Anthony was back in Detroit following the failed trades that would have sent Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton to the Pistons.
Reggie Bullock was wearing a protective mask for his broken nose. Before scoring 16 points in the game against the Sixers, he shot 1-19 for the season.