AUBURN HILLS, Mich. _ The margin of error is small against the San Antonio Spurs.
And Detroit Pistons saw that firsthand Friday night.
The Spurs (41-12) snapped the Pistons' four-game Palace winning streak with a 103-92 victory.
The Pistons had no answer for Spurs star Kahwi Leonard, who scored 32 points on 11-for-22 shooting. His jumper with 56 seconds left gave the Spurs a 103-91 lead to end any thoughts of a Pistons comeback from an earlier 21-point deficit.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. He scored seven points in the fourth quarter to help beat back the Pistons' comeback attempt.
Dewayne Dedmon was the unsung hero for the Spurs with 17 points and 17 rebounds. The Spurs dominated the glass, 52-35, and scored 20 second-chance points.
The Spurs were 9-for-19 from 3-point range.
Tobias Harris led seven Pistons in double figures with 16 points and fellow reserve Ish Smith added 15. The Pistons fell to 25-29.
The Pistons struggled mightily at the offensive end to start, taking nearly 9 minutes to score 10 points.
Dedmon was active from the outset, scoring 10 points and grabbing eight rebounds to help stake the Spurs to a 27-19 lead after the first quarter. The Spurs scored eight second-chance points.
The Spurs nailed five 3-pointers in the second quarter in taking a 60-41 lead into halftime. Leonard's 3-pointer at the 1:56 mark gave the Spurs a 54-41 lead, and then he added a 12-footer with 13.4 seconds left.
The Spurs were without big man Pau Gasol (left hand). But with Leonard, Aldridge and a team that's shooting 41 percent from 3-point range, it didn't make the Pistons' task much easier.
The Pistons played well in an early-season loss at San Antonio but still fell by 10.
"Look, they're hard to play against," Van Gundy said before the game. "You've really got to be on it at both ends. You've really got to move the ball and get good player movement offensively, to make it a little harder for them to lock in.
"It's hard to get shots against them, even when you're playing real well. But if the ball's not moving, changing sides, it's almost impossible."
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