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The Detroit Pistons returned to the winning column after taking down the Brooklyn Nets 115-94. Their historic winning streak stopped at eight after coming up short against the Denver Nuggets on Friday. Detroit returned to action in a back-to-back by dominating the final game of their four-game homestand.
The breakthrough dominance by center Jalen Duren has played a vital role in the winning turnaround of the Pistons. Duren gave the Nets all they could handle, scoring 18 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and blocking a new career-high of six shots. Point guard Cade Cunningham expressed his appreciation of the big man's development during the postgame media session.
“I think his comfort with our system has grown a lot. It's allowed him to trust stepping over and being at the rim consistently. He's putting his body on the line a lot, and that's important, being a big protecting the rim for you,” Cunningham stated. “I think he's been great. He's been one of the best bigs in the league and my favorite big in the league. He's just going to keep getting better and better. I think there's still a lot more growth to be had this season that we haven't seen him.”
Duren has been on arguably the most productive stretch of his NBA career through February. The 21-year-old center averaged 13.6 points and 11.7 rebounds for the Pistons last month. Duren also provided elite-level rim protection to help lead his team to finish the month 9-3 through 12 games.
The Pistons have also been able to lean on Duren more offensively outside of scoring. There are plenty of times when Detroit let Duren bring the ball up the court and facilitate the offense. In six different games in February, Duren recorded at least five assists for the Pistons to help lead to Detroit victories. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff offered praise for his young center as well for the recent two-way dominance.
“We are seeing the talent we believe has always been there. But now he's found a way, and it's the most difficult thing to do in this league. The separator in this league is, do you have 10 good games a year, do you have 30 good games a year, can you do it all the way to 82 games or whatever it may be?” Bickerstaff said.
“He's put a run together where he's been dominant on both ends of the floor. I think he's understanding what his job is as that rim protector and how he needs to protect the paint for us. Six blocks tonight was unbelievable, and he challenged even more of them.”
Pistons survive chippy second-half
After leading by double digits through the majority of the first half, the Pistons saw their lead get cut as low as six points after halftime. The Nets put some heavy pressure on the Pistons by outscoring them 30-to-13 in the third quarter. Brooklyn even managed to create 27 turnovers by Detroit to help with their comeback flurry.
The matchup became more intense as both teams embraced a physical brand of basketball. The high emotion reached a peak when sixth man Malik Beasley picked up two technical fouls and an ejection for trash-talking the Nets in the fourth quarter. Detroit overcame the runs and chippy play to push their lead back to double digits.
Duren, Beasley, and Tobias Harris each led the Pistons in scoring with 18 points a piece. Cunningham had another quiet scoring day with 15 points but dished out nine assists and grabbed seven rebounds.
