DETROIT — Jalen Duren had 22 points and a career-high 21 rebounds and the Detroit Pistons ended the Oklahoma City Thunder‘s five-game winning streak with a 120-104 victory on Sunday.
“I just think our guys care,” Pistons coach Monty Williams said of Detroit’s best win of the season. “We had every reason to make excuses — a back-to-back against the best team in the West — and our guys just competed.”
Duren’s performance included a career-high nine of Detroit’s 15 offensive rebounds. It was the Pistons’ first 20-20 game since Andre Drummond‘s on Jan. 31, 2020.
“I also had six assists,” Duren pointed out to the media. “I knew 20 and 20 was bound to happen for me at some point. The game is slowing down for me tremendously.”
The Thunder, who entered the game with the second-best record in the league, closed as a 12.5-point favorite at ESPN BET.
Jaden Ivey had 19 points for the Pistons (6-40), who played without leading scorer Cade Cunningham, who was a late scratch for what the team termed “injury management.” Cunningham returned from a knee injury on Saturday.
“We felt like, on a back-to-back, if there was any level of concern, we didn’t feel good putting him out there,” Williams said.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 31 points and Jalen Williams added 20.
Detroit led 81-67 early in the third quarter, but Gilgeous-Alexander scored the next seven points. The Thunder (32-14) got as close as 90-86 before Ivey hit back-to-back jumpers to start a 10-0 run.
“I thought it was an energy thing in both directions,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “They played with great energy — beat us to balls, played with intensity — and as the game wore on, we couldn’t drum up that same energy. They obviously deserved to win today.”
The Pistons led 100-87 going into the fourth and kept hitting 3-pointers at key moments down the stretch. The 16-point win matches their biggest margin of victory this season.
“That’s a great playoff team, but we showed a lot of resiliency all game,” Ivey said. “That’s what we need to bring every night.”
Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort didn’t play in the fourth quarter, while Chet Holmgren played only 2:08.
“There’s always a balance,” Daigneault said. “If I thought we had a chance to get back into the game, I would have obviously put them in, but with the way the game was going, I just didn’t feel it. With the schedule we have had and the schedule we have coming out of here, I thought it was the wise move.”
The Thunder shot 56.5% from the floor in the first half but still trailed 70-61 at intermission. The Pistons had a 9-2 edge in offensive rebounds and committed only one turnover.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Source: www.espn.com