to make his season debut against t

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The Detroit Pistons staved off elimination with a hot streak over the past two weeks.

They officially fell out of the Eastern Conference playoff race on Wednesday night when they lost to the even hotter Philadelphia 76ers 115-108. The Sixers stretched their winning streak to 12 games.

Detroit had won seven of its last eight games but couldn’t erase a midseason collapse that saw it drop from eight games above .500 to nine games below that mark. The Pistons (37-41) have now missed the playoffs in eight of the last nine seasons.

They’ll host the lottery-bound Dallas Mavericks on Friday Chris Taylor Jersey , scrounging for reasons to stay focused.

“We still have four games to go,” Pistons forward Anthony Tolliver said. “We can claw and scratch and hopefully get to that .500 mark. Just something to play for.”

The Pistons have failed to make the playoffs in three of the four seasons with Stan Van Gundy as head coach and president of basketball operations.

“It’s tough, just because you work all season and to now be eliminated, it hurts,” forward Henry Ellenson said. “We had different goals coming into the year. We have four games left and we’ve just got to finish out strong.”

It’s uncertain how much their biggest star will play in those games. Power forward Blake Griffin has missed the last three games with a bone bruise in his right ankle. Van Gundy says Griffin will play if he’s healthy, even though the games are meaningless.

The Mavericks (24-55) will be without their future Hall of Famer. Dirk Nowitzki underwent a surgical procedure on his left ankle Thursday morning and will miss the remaining games. Before the Mavs’ 105-100 loss to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, he had appeared in all but one of the team’s previous 78 games.

Nowitzki reportedly decided to have the surgical debridement in order to accelerate the rehab process and play for one more season.

Star rookie Dennis Smith Jr. (left knee soreness) and Harrison Barnes (rest) were also among seven players who didn’t suit up at Orlando.

Guard J.J. Barea strained his left oblique during the game and will be shut down for the final three games.

“There’s nothing wrong,” Barea told Mavs.com. “I’m just making sure it won’t get worse. I don’t want to finish the season with it messed up. I had a good season.”

Coach Rick Carlisle has been juggling rotations on a game-by-game basis, often featuring end-of-the-bench types and players who spent a good portion of the season in the G League. Rookie guard Kyle Collinsworth played a career-high 35 minutes against the Magic and had 13 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

“I just try to play how I play http://www.packersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-josh-jackson-jersey , get in the lane, get my floaters up, be aggressive, find shooters, pick up full court and create some sort of leverage for us,” Collinsworth told Mavs.com. “When I come in, no matter if it’s four minutes or however many minutes I played tonight, I play how I play. With extended minutes, you should have a little better stat line.”

Dallas manhandled Detroit in the first meeting on Dec. 20. Barnes scored 25 points and the Mavs accumulated 43 second-quarter points in a 110-93 victory.

Everything was going Clay Buchholz’s way. Then, a swing-and-miss led to an injury that turned what could have been a gem into a routine solid outing.

Buchholz lasted five innings before experiencing tightness in his left side Cheap Austin Corbett Jersey , but the Arizona Diamondbacks completed a four-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 3-0 win Sunday.

The right-hander retired the first 11 batters he faced before Pirates centerfielder Starling Marte doubled down the right-field line with two out in the fourth inning. Despite throwing just 53 pitches (42 strikes), he was pulled to start the sixth inning after informing manager Torey Lovullo of some pain stemming from swinging at the first pitch of his at bat in the top of the fifth.

”I’ve had oblique, whatever it is, before. It was a lot worse than this one,” Buchholz said. ”I went out (in the bottom of the fifth) and the last two outs, that’s whenever I felt it a little bit more. I was just trying to get through that inning. It’s more precautionary. I’ve gone through things before where I’ve tried to get through it, pitch through it and go another inning, but that’s always led me in the wrong direction.”

Lovullo said Buchholz (2-1), who allowed two hits with five strikeouts in five innings for his first win since June 1, would continue to be evaluated throughout Sunday. More information is expected Monday.

”He was attacking the zone with the fastball and driving his fastball on both sides of the plate Youth Green Bay Packers Jerseys , and then throwing some quality secondary stuff,” Lovullo said. ”We want to give him a night to let everything calm down and evaluate him.”

David Peralta’s 15th home run, which carried over the wall in right-center field before bouncing into the Allegheny River, and John Ryan Murphy’s ninth powered Arizona to its 12th win in 16 games.

”It’s nice to get a couple runs in the first, always,” Murphy said. ”I was leading off the second and was looking for a fastball. Got one in a pretty good spot.”

Brad Boxberger let up a single to Austin Meadows with one out in the ninth before forcing Marte into a double play for his 17th save.

Pirates right-handed starter Trevor Williams (6-5) took the loss after allowing the two-run home run to Peralta with two out in the first inning and a lead-off solo homer to Murphy, which made it 3-0 in the second. Those three runs came on five hits in six innings pitched with six strikeouts.

”Unfortunately, that was the game today,” Williams said. ”From there on, I thought I was making all my pitches and being successful the second time through the lineup.”

Pittsburgh has scored eight combined runs during its current five-game losing streak after winning four of its previous five games.

”We’re going to keep playing Ronnie Harrison Jersey Jaguars ,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. ”The season’s not going to stop. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. These guys are working hard in here to get better. We haven’t gotten better.”

ROSTER MOVE

Diamondbacks: RHP Braden Shipley was recalled from Triple-A Reno on Sunday morning. RHP Jake Barrett was optioned to Reno following the game Saturday.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Diamondbacks: 1B Paul Goldschmidt was given the day off after homering and scoring three runs Saturday. INF Daniel Descalso took over at first base and hit fifth.

Pirates: RHP Michael Feliz was placed on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation on Sunday and recalled RHP Clay Holmes from Triple-A Indianapolis. Holmes allowed one walk in two innings of relief.

UP NEXT

Diamondbacks: RHP Shelby Miller (0-0, 0.00) is expected to come off the 60-day disabled list to make his season debut against the Marlins on Monday. After undergoing Tommy John surgery for a torn UCL sustained last season against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Miller allowed 10 runs on 20 hits with 28 strikeouts and six walks in a combined 19 1/3 innings during his four rehab starts, two with Double-A Jackson and two with Single-A Visalia.

Pirates: RHP Jameson Taillon (4-6, 4.03) will look to find some consistency when he starts against the New York Mets on Monday. He is 2-6 since winning his first two starts of the season against the Minnesota Twins on April 2 and the Cincinnati Reds on April 8.

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