The Pistons get a short respite at home against the Hornets

The Detroit Pistons have one last chance to play in front of their home fans this month when they host the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night.

The Eastern Conference-leading Pistons will embark on a five-game road trip the remainder of December.

Detroit has taken advantage of its home games this season, posting an 11-2 record.

Coach JB Bickerstaff and his players left their trip to Dallas on Thursday in a bad mood. The Pistons were assessed three technicals and forward Ausar Thompson was fouled in the first half of the 116-114 overtime loss.

Bickerstaff then lashed out at official John Goble for the way the game was called.

“This game is not about the referees. This was a highly contested game between two competitive teams with guys who put it on the line, but what happened out there on the park (Thursday) needs to be addressed,” Bickerstaff said. “You had a guy who wanted to make the game for the refs, and that’s not what it should have been. These were two teams competing on the outside, playing high-level basketball.”

Detroit trailed by 18 points in the third quarter, but rallied behind its backups. The Pistons missed three shots in the final eight seconds of overtime.

“The strength of this team is depth. We can go to any guy on any given night and they can help us,” Bickerstaff said. “We came up a little short. But that speaks to the character and depth of the team. The guys are prepared and ready to go.”

Their star, Cade Cunningham, finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. He heads into Saturday’s contest averaging 27.2 points, 9.2 assists and 6.2 rebounds.

Charlotte heads to Detroit with just its second two-game winning streak of the season. The Hornets beat Cleveland 119-111 in overtime on Sunday. Then they made a pit stop at home and beat Atlanta 133-126 on Thursday.

LaMelo Ball, who missed the previous three games with an ankle injury, had 28 points and 13 assists against the Hawks.

“Our overall team always gets stronger every time he plays,” coach Charles Lee told the Charlotte Observer. “The spirit of the group goes up when you have that powerful warrior. When you have to go into battle and see him show up, you’re like, ‘Oh, dang. We’ll be fine.’ And so I think the group really comes together around that. And he did a great job defensively of taking plays and finishing possessions.”

Rookie of the Year candidate Kon Knueppel continued his hot streak with 28 points and seven assists. Knueppel is averaging 30 points and 6.3 assists over his last three games.

“For a young player his age in your first year in the NBA to be able to do that, it just shows the kind of maturity he has, the awareness of the shots we need him to make, the shots we think the team needs to make,” Lee said. “And so I’ve been really impressed with that and just his overall growth.”