AUBURN HILLS – The Detroit Pistons have a sub-.500 record and are in the midst of their first losing streak of the season after falling 119-110 to the Oklahoma City Thunder Friday night at The Palace.

But after five games, the Pistons have clearly sent a message to the rest of the NBA: The days of them being a pushover for the league's top teams are over.

All three of the Pistons losses have come against teams that can be considered legitimate championship contenders and even though they were on the wrong end of the score in all of them, the Pistons had a chance to win all three.

• They led Memphis, a Western Conference finalist last season, by five points with 42.1 seconds left in regulation before losing 111-108 in overtime.

• They trailed Indiana, an Eastern Conference finalist last season, by five points with 32.6 seconds left before losing 99-91.

• And they trailed Oklahoma City, an NBA finalist two years ago, 115-110 with 20.4 seconds left despite playing large chunks of the game without Andre Drummond and Josh Smith after each picked up their fourth foul in the second quarter.

Now, they Pistons didn't win any of those games and that's obviously the most important thing.

But they're also not getting blown out by top teams the way they did many nights the past two seasons, when they had a combined 54-94 record and their playoff hopes were basically over after the first month.

"Obviously, we can be better," said Greg Monroe, who had 20 points and 15 rebounds against the Thunder. "I don't think we've been playing horrible. Three legitimate title contenders. We were right there in all those games and they made that push in the second half to put them over the top.

"People always say in the NBA you're going to make a run but those good teams force those runs. We're on the right track. It's going to take some time the more we play with each other."

Exactly how long that's going to take is anyone's guess.

Will the Pistons come together soon enough to end their four-year playoff drought next spring or will they need another season to keep moving in the right direction?

"I don't know the number," said veteran Chauncey Billups, the only remaining member of the 2004 NBA championship team. "I really don't know the number to put a number on it. But it takes a fair amount of time. New faces, new coach, new philosophies. It takes a little while.

"I love our fight, us not giving up. Our goal is to get on those guys' level (and) play that kind of basketball. Obviously, those teams have been together quite some time. Experience is the best teacher. The best teacher.

"You're going to take some lumps every now and then, lose some games you should win against good teams because they've got experience."

The Pistons trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half but came back in the third and led 74-69 with four minutes left after a 3-pointer by Rodney Stuckey.

Oklahoma City regrouped and took an eight-point lead into the fourth, when they hiked the spread to 13 after two free throws by Steven Adams made it 105-92 with 3:28 left. But the Pistons rallied one more time and pulled within 115-110 on a 3-pointer by Brandon Jennings with 20.4 seconds to play.

The Thunder (4-1) finally ended it by making four straight free throws to hand the Pistons their second straight loss.

"I like the way we played tonight. We played hard. We played aggressive," said coach Maurice Cheeks. "The guys played hard and just couldn't make the shots when we needed to make them. Shooting is part of the game. Sometimes you're going to make them. Sometimes you don't.

"But at some point, we've got to make them. Whether it's a concern or whatever it is, you have to keep working hard and those will fall. Nothing you can do about that."

Indeed, shooting was again a problem. After making 38 percent of their shots vs. Indiana, the Pistons were a bit better against Oklahoma City, shooting 42 percent.

But take Smith (25 points) and Monroe out of the equation and the rest of the Pistons shot 32 percent.

"I really believe if we keep getting those kinds of shots our shooters will be able to shoot (better)," said Billups, who was 1-for-6 and had three points. "I haven't shot it well. None of our shooters have shot it particularly well.

"So if we can continue to get those shots, I feel good about us."

Jennings added 22 points and 11 assists in his best game for the Pistons, Stuckey scored 17 and Monroe had a career-high 10 offensive rebounds. Drummond was held to four points, three rebounds and two blocks.

Russell Westbrook added 20 points for Oklahoma City, Adams had 17 to go with 10 rebounds, Serge Ibaka scored 11 and Jeremy Lamb had 10. Westbrook had no assists and four turnovers.

The victory was Oklahoma City's ninth straight over the Pistons dating back to Dec. 26, 2008.

-- Download the Detroit Pistons on MLive app for iPhone and Android

-- Like MLive's Detroit Pistons Facebook page