DETROIT – Blake Griffin hasn’t been himself lately. Not even close.

December has been the cruelest month for the Detroit Pistons star forward. In nine games, he is shooting 29.7 percent (35-of-118), including 25 percent from 3-point range (13-of-52).

He has experienced games where he has made 4-of-17 shots, 1-of-9, 3-of-16, 0-of-7 and, in Monday’s 125-109 loss to the Sixers, 2-of-14.

It certainly appears knee issues, which forced him to miss the first 10 games of the season and sit out a few select games since then, are the reason. But he’s not going there.

“I got no excuses,” Griffin said. “I just need to play better.”

Coach Dwane Casey dismissed the notion that it’s best to shut down Griffin until the knee is 100 percent. He believes rest between games and occasional load management helps, as does playing through it.

“That’s our hope, the rest, the play,” Casey said. “The idea that you just take off and rest is not good either for anybody that has tendinitis or whatever it is. You still have to work those muscles and get them to firing and used to firing. That’s the process he’s going through now.”

The Pistons are in a quandary. Despite their poor performance (11-20), they’re only 2½ games behind Orlando for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. And while they would figure to be nothing more than first-round fodder for Milwaukee or whoever finishes first, getting in is important to the Pistons.

They’re better with Griffin, despite his struggles, having gone 5-4 this month with him and 0-3 without him.

“We need every hand on deck and I applaud Blake for going tonight,” Casey said after the game. “There’s no magic wand. It’s going to be grinding it out game by game to get back in this.”

The Pistons have tried to adjust their offense to make it easier on Griffin.

“We ran more pick-and-rolls; he still can be a great facilitator, which he is,” Casey said. “There’s other things you can do, which he does for us, other than shoot the ball. He understands he’s not shooting the ball well, but he’s still a presence as far as screening, passing; we still can run things through him with (dribble handoffs) and pick-and-rolls. There’s other things that impact winning that he can do.”

Andre Drummond said he’s in constant communication with Griffin on the court, offering encouragement.

“I always tell him he’s fine. It’s just a streak. He’s just missing shots and he can’t really get himself into a rhythm,” Drummond said. “I tell him that we all believe in him and things will be fine. Just keep playing, keeping doing the same things you’re doing. Those shots will fall. We need him more defensively, so don’t worry about the offense, it’s going to come.”

The Pistons host Washington on Thursday (7 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit), which has won the first two meetings between the teams. The Pistons’ inability to capitalize on a soft part of their schedule has been costly – they are 0-8 vs. Charlotte, Chicago and Washington, teams not currently in playoff position.

Griffin said being in and out of the lineup lately (he missed Saturday’s game due to the flu) has hurt his shooting rhythm, but added, “I’ve never really been an excuse guy. Just got to be better. That’s the bottom line.”

He was asked if not being in peak conditioning due to time off was causing many shots to come up short.

“I’d like to say that, but I in came this morning, shot pretty well, shot a little pregame, just didn’t make shots,” Griffin said.

“For me, it’s never really been about lack of effort. I’ll always try, I’ll always dive on the floor, always try to play defense, do the little things. I’m used to contributing more. I think offensively, I haven’t been able to do that.”

Drummond disciplined: Drummond hadn’t come off the bench since his rookie season of 2012-13, starting 520 consecutive games in which he played, before Monday. But after missing shoot-around, Casey had no choice.

“Team rule,” Casey said. “He missed the shoot-around this morning. We get our butts kicked on the court but we’re going to have discipline, we’re going to have structure.”

Wood makes fast recovery: Christian Wood was supposed to have left knee bone bruise re-evaluated later in the week but made a speedy recovery. He played only 4:15 Monday but scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting. He had missed the previous two games.