The Clippers paired a poor start with a sensational surge to set up a suspenseful finish in Detroit, where a trio of former Pistons proved to be difference-makers in their latest mettle-testing victory. They won 106-102, clawing back from an early 18-point deficit for the early Sunday win.

Marcus Morris Sr. (a Piston for two seasons, from 2015-17) came through with a season-high 31 points; Luke Kennard (2017-20) caught fire in a perfect fourth quarter and Reggie Jackson (2014-20) again delivered the daggers to lift the Clippers to a victory in Detroit.

Ivica Zubac – never a Piston, having played only for L.A. teams – also contributed a hearty 14 points and 15 rebounds to the victory for his 20th double-double of the season.

Jackson’s 3-pointer with 1:39 to play gave the Clippers a wisp of breathing space – 100-96.

Then, after Morris willed in a contested jumper over Isaiah Livers, Jackson put it away when he sped away from would-be foulers for a layup that pushed the lead to 104-98.

In the Clippers’ visit to Detroit last season, Jackson hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 19 seconds to go that set up his game-winner with 2.3 seconds left that propelled the Clippers to a 100-98 victory.

There isn’t much risk of the Clippers of sliding out of the play-in picture, but there also isn’t much hope they’ll be able to escape the play-in: They came into Saturday’s game 3 1/2 games behind Minnesota for the seventh spot – which comes with home-court advantage for the play-in round.

The Clippers came out cold. They shot 31.7% from the field and made only two 3s before the break – both of them coming courtesy of Morris, who single-handedly kept his side afloat early.

His personal 8-0 run got the Clippers within 43-33 with 3:44 to play in the second quarter. And he finished the half shooting 5 for 9 while his teammates combined to go 7 for 27. Consequently, the Clippers trailed by as many as 18 points in the first half and were down 53-39 at intermission.

The Clippers woke up in the third quarter, when they outscored Detroit 31-19 thanks in large part to their big man in the middle. After having missed six consecutive shots, Ivica Zubac exalted when he finally got a shot to go, his second bucket of the game, cutting the Pistons’ lead to 58-50

Zubac scored 10 points in the third quarter, when he shot 5 for 7 from the field and pulled down seven rebounds, including four offensive. The Clippers clobbered Detroit in the paint in the third period, 18-8 and outscored the Pistons 10-1 in second-chance points.

Kennard got to cooking in the fourth quarter.

He entered the final period with a modest five points on 2-for-9 shooting (including just 1 for 4 from 3-point range). And in a few blinks of the eye, he’d made four consecutive shots, three of them from 3-point range.

There was significant firepower missing for both teams: The Clippers are playing without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, as well as forwards Norman Powell (foot) and Robert Covington (personal). The Pistons were without rotation players Isaiah Stewart (knee) and Killian Hayes (thigh).

More to come on this story.

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