OAKLAND, Calif. -- Sometimes, even in defeat, and in the midst of another long losing streak, tiny elements rear up of what the Detroit Pistons hope someday to become.

The Pistons lost Wednesday. Again.

The Golden State Warriors, the best team in the NBA, and best home team, did them in with a fourth-quarter flurry for a 105-98 win at Oracle Arena.

But Andre Drummond had one of those big statistical nights -- 22 points and a career-high 27 rebounds, including 17 offensive rebounds -- that make you realize if they ever put the right team around him, look out.

"I pride myself on going to get the ball, and tonight was a good night for me," Drummond said. "The ball happened to fall in my hands a lot more than usual."

Reggie Jackson, after a terrible game one night earlier against the Lakers, had 14 points and nine assists and for most of the game didn't look as locked in on what his coach called "predetermined" decisions in Los Angeles.

"I've just got to find a way to play ball and not think so much," Jackson said. "Whatever happens happens. If it's an open shot, take it. If it's the next pass, make it. Stop trying to, like he said, predetermine. Don't try to appease people all the time. Just go out there and play the game."

But the Pistons had eight turnovers in the fourth quarter after seven in the first three quarters. Three of those were by Jackson after he committed one until then.

The result, an eighth consecutive defeat, and Van Gundy's response when asked how he handles all the losing and whether this is time for soul-searching.

"Stay away from tall buildings," he replied. "Soul-searching, hell. I don't even want to go into what's in my mind. But you've got no choice, you keep working at it. Our guys are continuing to work. You can see it tonight. I mean, we're coming off a very disappointing game last night, and coming in to play the best team in the league, who's 27-2 or whatever they are at home, and I thought our guys came out and battled their (tails) off the entire game.

"So when you see that out of your team -- I'd keep fighting anyway, but you want to fight for them, too. They're working hard. I mean, eight in a row is terrible, and it's weighing on all of us. But there's nobody giving up or giving in here, and I thought tonight was great evidence of that."

The Pistons certainly did more than a few things well against a 51-12 team with a 28-2 home record.

Drummond, the beastly rebounder, did it at a level he never had before. Van Gundy noted an inordinate number of misses helped -- the Pistons were 42 of 100 from the field, their third time cracking triple-digit attempts this season, all losses, and second time in four games -- but the raw rebounding numbers can't be overlooked.

And the Pistons' decision to switch out perimeter screens helped a naturally bigger team control the NBA's best 3-point-shooting team.

The Warriors were 7 of 20, snapping a nine-game streak of at least 10 threes, one shy of the franchise record.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said the defensive switches "helped us tremendously."

"When they were screening for each other, it just helped us take away the 3-pointer and stay with them as much as possible," the Pistons guard said.

The Pistons typically urge perimeter players to go over screens, not switch.

But with Caron Butler moving into the starting lineup at small forward so that Tayshaun Prince could come off the bench at power forward, switching screens took advantage of Prince's perimeter defensive acumen whenever Drummond and Greg Monroe weren't playing together.

The switches produced some peculiar matchups but proved more effective than trying to stick man-to-man with the NBA's fastest-paced team.

"It helps because when you have someone like that at the four, we can switch one through four," Caldwell-Pope said of Prince. "So it makes it different because everybody can guard the 3-point line and make them take tough shots. And when you do that, on the offensive end, it creates openings."

Van Gundy was non-committal on whether he would stick with the lineup and rotation change, which relegated Anthony Tolliver to third power forward. But with Tolliver struggling to make shots and the Pistons needing to account for the NBA's most dynamic perimeter attack, Prince's defensive ability gave some added value to the bench.

"Those guys are so tough, I think, in terms of their ball movement, when you put two guys on the ball and then you're forced to close out, it's really tough to get back to them," Van Gundy said. "And I thought it (switching) helped us. I mean, we certainly didn't shut them down, but I didn't think they got the number of wide-open threes and things like that. I thought we were able to be in front of them more."

The other major change was to the starting lineup itself.

The Pistons started the same lineup they last won with, on Feb. 22 against Washington.

And Van Gundy wanted Prince at power forward.

"With Tayshaun at the four, we thought it gave us more opportunity to switch pick-and-rolls and stay in front of people, because he can get out and defend those guys," Van Gundy said. "So it was those two things, really, that led us to that decision."

It worked well, with the Pistons up 81-79 until the turnover bug struck.

"We reverted to trying to force plays instead of just moving the basketball against a great defensive team," Van Gundy said.

The turnovers opened up transition opportunities for six of Golden State's 14 fast-break points, and also created defensive mismatches when the Pistons did scramble back in time.

"It's tough enough to get back on a missed shot with them," Van Gundy said. "But to get back and get matched up off of turnovers is almost impossible."

Jackson had a solid game going until he returned with 7:14 left in the fourth quarter and the Warriors leading 85-81.

Less than three minutes later, it was 97-83 after an 18-2 Warriors run, including 10 points by Klay Thompson.

"Their defense got a little better, stepped up, and he (Jackson) forced some plays," Van Gundy said. "But I think over the body of the first 3 1/2 quarters of the game, he was a lot better tonight."

Jackson is 1-8 as the Pistons point guard since he was acquired in a Feb. 19 trade with Oklahoma City, where he grew accustomed to championship contention.

The 23-41 Pistons are a new professional challenge.

"I'm all right," Jackson said. "Just play the game, enjoy it at the moment, for what it is. You never know if it's your last or not, so go out there and try to play your best."

The Pistons have two games left in their four-game, five-day road trip through the Western Conference, Friday at Portland and Saturday at Utah.

If they lose both, they will become the fourth Pistons team in franchise history with two double-digit losing streaks in the same season. They lost 13 in a row in November and December.

"We're not going to hold our heads down," Caldwell-Pope said. "We've got two more coming up, so we've got a couple games left, and we're just going to continue to fight."

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