PORTLAND, Ore. _ With the Pistons in rebuild mode, there will be plenty of losses in the remainder of the season.
There also will be some surprises.
Early on in Sunday's matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers, it looked to be more of the former than the latter. The Blazers had a 19-point lead eight minutes into the first quarter, but the Pistons flipped the script.
In less than a quarter, the Pistons erased the deficit, but the Blazers rallied late for a 107-104 victory at Moda Center. The loss extends the Pistons' losing streak to six games, after the first game of their four-game western trip.
Christian Wood had 26 points and nine rebounds, Brandon Knight added a season-high 15 points and Derrick Rose 15 points for the Pistons (19-40), who play at Denver on Tuesday.
In a back-and-forth game, the Pistons had a 95-86 lead with 7:43 remaining after Wood scored on an alley-oop from Langston Galloway (13 points). The Blazers (26-32) answered with a 15-2 run over the next five-plus minutes, with seven points by CJ McCollum, who had 41 points, nine rebounds and a career-best 12 assists.
Carmelo Anthony, who had a season-high 32 points, added a 3-pointer and Hassan Whiteside (16 points and 17 rebounds) scored on a putback dunk before consecutive drives by McCollum put the Blazers ahead, 101-97, with 2:00 remaining.
Rose ended the run with a driving lay-in but McCollum responded with a pair of free throws. Wood kept the Pistons within two with a putback dunk, but Anthony helped create a cushion with a jumper to make it 105-101 with 20.4 seconds left.
It wasn't quite over. Wood hit a 3-pointer with 5.4 seconds remaining to get within 106-104 and after McCollum split a pair of free throws, the Pistons had a last shot to tie it, but the Blazers got a steal on the final possession and held on.
The Pistons had a 23-3 run, including 19 straight points, in the big run early in the second quarter. Wood had nine points during the streak and Knight added a pair of 3-pointers.
