SACRAMENTO, Calif _ In a season of bad losses, the Detroit Pistons may have topped themselves Tuesday night.
On their way to an easy victory with an 18-point lead in the third quarter, the Pistons saw the lead evaporate and saw the Sacramento Kings pull out a 100-94 victory at Golden 1 Center, the Pistons' first appearance at the new arena.
The Kings (16-22) made most of their comeback with star center DeMarcus Cousins (24 points, 13 rebounds and six assists) on the bench in foul trouble.
Garrett Temple's three-pointer gave the Kings a 95-92 lead with 1:54 remaining, making the comeback complete.
After Reggie Jackson missed a free throw to fail to complete a three-point play, Cousins dropped a three-pointer with 54 seconds remaining to give the Kings a 98-94 lead and finish off the Pistons (18-22).
Kosta Koufos ignited the comeback with 12 points and eight rebounds.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 21 points on 6-for-8 shooting from three-point range. Jackson finished with 19 points, as the Pistons fell to 1-1 on their five-game trip against the Western Conference.
Andre Drummond had a career-high seven blocked shots. He added nine points and 12 rebounds.
The Pistons took a 56-43 lead into halftime after holding the Kings to 35 percent shooting.
After going 3-for-3 in the second overtime Sunday at Portland � including the winning triple � Caldwell-Pope extended his streak to six straight with a 3-for-3 performance in the first half. He led the Pistons with 12 points.
Cousins was dominant with 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists, but was limited with foul trouble.
The Pistons were also helped by scoring 12 points off 11 turnovers from the Kings.
Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy used 11 players in the first half, with rookie power forward Henry Ellenson getting the first playing time of his career during a competitive portion of a game. He was called into duty because Jon Leuer is out for an extended period with a right knee bruise.
Ellenson scored on a tip-in after a Boban Marjanovic post-up.
He finished the first half with two points and two rebounds in 7 minutes.
