SAN ANTONIO -- Pau Gasol just seems to have the knack for making the plays to beat the Detroit Pistons, no matter what uniform he wearing and which team he's playing for.

Gasol broke out of a mini-scoring slump when he hit for a season-high 21 points on 10-of-16 shooting as the San Antonio Spurs shrugged off a late charge and defeated the Detroit Pistons 96-86 on Friday at the AT&T Center, snapping a three-game home losing streak in the process.

"I'm just playing the game but being more aggressive," Gasol said. "We had more continuity tonight, so that helped. I'm just trying to establish myself a little more. And the early shots went in, and that always helps to get you going.

"We needed to snap out of that (losing) streak at home and start playing with some fire."

A free throw and back-to-back driving buckets by the Pistons' Ish Smith cut San Antonio's lead to 89-84 with 2:59 to play. After Smith missed on a third drive to the basket a minute later, Kawhi Leonard poured in an arcing 3-pointer to provide the Spurs a comfortable cushion for the end of the game.

Leonard added 17 points while LaMarcus Aldridge scored 14 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for the Spurs (6-3). Patty Mills and Manu Ginobili hit for 10 points each for San Antonio. San Antonio's 24 assists was its most since its season-opening win at Golden State (25) on Oct. 25.

"We ran our offense well at the beginning of the game and our defense picked up in the second half," Leonard said. "Holding Detroit to 32 points in the second half was important. Our energy was there and our focus was there early on and that carried over into the second half."

The Pistons (4-5) got 20 points and a game-high 17 rebounds from Andre Drummond. Smith, Beno Udrih and Tobias Harris added 12 points apiece for Detroit and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 10 points.

Detroit, which is undefeated at home, has not won on the road this season (0-5).

The Pistons did lot of things well on Friday, especially on the defensive end and with ball movement on offense. But Detroit was a woeful 5 of 20 from 3-point range and hit just one of 12 shots from beyond the arc in the second half.

"In terms of defense and ball movement this was one of our best games of the year and I'm not one to look for positives when they are not there," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We played the game pretty well tonight -- we just could not make shots."

San Antonio shot 55 percent from the floor in the first quarter and got 13 points from Gasol while building a 28-26 lead after 12 minutes. The offensive outburst from Gasol, who signed with the Spurs as a free agent in the offseason, equaled his scoring output from his last two games combined.

Asked why Gasol played well, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich was succinct in his response: "Because I think he got tired of losing."

Detroit fashioned a 12-0 run midway through the second quarter to turn 38-31 deficit into a 43-38 lead as San Antonio went almost four minutes without a field goal.

Drummond converted two free throws and a dunk on the ensuing possession when Gasol was called for the Spurs' second flagrant foul of the half and sent the Pistons to a 52-49 advantage at halftime.

Gasol led all scorers at the half with 15 points while Drummond paced Detroit with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting. The Pistons' bench outscored San Antonio's 17-8 in the first half, with Udrih leading the way with eight points in nine minutes.

The Spurs outscored Detroit 10-2 over the final 4:12 of the third quarter to assume a 75-67 lead. Ginobili poured in two 3-pointers in that stretch, including one from the wing that was heavily contested by Harris and just beat the shot clock.

"There was a little stretch there that San Antonio made some big shots and got a little separation from us," Smith said. "We fought but we just didn't make shots but we just have to keep trusting it. We have to keep moving the ball like we did tonight and things will come."

San Antonio played without its regular backcourt tandem of guards Tony Parker and Danny Green for the ninth straight game. Parker returned to the lineup after missing the past three games with a sore right knee, but Green -- who played his first game of the year on Wednesday in San Antonio's loss to Houston -- was held out to rest.

NOTES: San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich spent 5 1/2 of his 8 1/2-minute pregame media availability criticizing President-elect Donald Trump's candidacy and his ideals, saying his election "reflects the bigotry of many Americans." ... The Spurs were 2-0 against Detroit last season and have won three games in a row versus the Pistons. ... San Antonio held Detroit to 64 points on 25.9 percent shooting (21-81) on Feb. 21, 1999, a Spurs' franchise record for lowest field goal percentage by an opponent. ... Friday's contest with the Spurs is the third of a four-game road trip for Detroit that ends Saturday in Denver. ... Through the first eight games of the season, the Pistons have improved their defensive statistics significantly over last year's numbers, including opponent points per game (97.4 this season, 101.4 last season) and field-goal percentage (43.0-46.1).