Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren continued imposing his dominance on Wednesday, propelling his team to a 113-104 victory over the Toronto Raptors. Detroit's win improved their record to 12-53 and earned their third set of back-to-back victories this season.
Duren finished the night scoring 24 points, missing just one shot while going 8-of-9 from the field. He also grabbed 23 rebounds and dished five assists in his stat-stuffing performance.
Wednesday's win marked another performance in which the 20-year-old big man stayed out of foul trouble. Duren became the fourth player in NBA history to record at least 20 points, 20 rebounds and five assists while shooting at least 88% from the field, joining Hall-of-Famers Wilt Chamberlain and Willis Reed as well as Sacramento Kings star Domantas Sabonis.
After the game, Isaiah Stewart had high praise for Duren's stellar effort.
“The sky is the limit for him. I tell him every day, everybody tells him every day the sky is the limit for him. I'm excited for what the future holds for him,” Stewart said of Durent, per Bally Sports Detroit. “That performance he did tonight, that's what I expect out of him every night because he's capable of doing it every single night. That should be his next goal, just doing it every single night because he's a man-child. I love JD, that's my little bro so I'm proud of the way he played tonight.”
No Cade Cunningham in fourth quarter
Head coach Monty Williams made the bold call of sitting point guard Cade Cunningham through the entire fourth quarter in favor of rookie Marcus Sasser. Cunningham put together another strong night, scoring 19 points and dishing six assists for the Pistons, but Williams opted to ride with the hot play of the players on the floor.
Sasser knocked down a huge triple at the 5:28 mark of the fourth quarter to push Detroit's lead to 11. Cunningham almost subbed in for Sasser, but he sat back down after the Raptors called timeout following the three.
Williams confirmed in the postgame presser that it was Cunningham's idea to let Sasser finish the game. The 23-year-old rookie finished with 11 points and helped seal the victory down the stretch on big possessions.
Pistons battle back after big deficit
Detroit has struggled all season to fight back from big gaps.. The Raptors stole the lead early and led by as many as 16 in the second quarter. The Pistons managed to regain their composure and brought the deficit down to five at halftime, 57-52.
There has been a noticeable energy shift with Detroit by correcting the mistakes they were making early in the season. Duren commented on the growth and continuity of the Pistons over the last couple of months.
“I think we're coming together as a team. We're all feeling good, I feel like everybody's kind of catching their rhythm,” Duren said. “You see Sass (Marcus Sasser) coming in doing his thing, big Wise (James Wiseman) coming in doing his thing. I think he had like 10 boards in his time with a couple of blocks. Everybody's contributing in their own way and it's helping us come out with these outcomes.”
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