Cade Cunningham had 29 points and 13 assists and Jalen Duren had 29 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 124-116 home win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday in a battle of the top teams from each conference.
The Pistons have won six of their last seven, while the Thunder had its three-game winning streak snapped.
Detroit led by 17 in the third quarter and as many as 14 in the fourth before the Thunder cut the deficit to three with a 13-2 run that included eight points from Aaron Wiggins.
After Oklahoma City made it 108-105 with 5:06 remaining, the Pistons grabbed four consecutive offensive rebounds before Javonte Green drained a 3-pointer with the shot clock dwindling to break the skid.
The Thunder cut the deficit to four in the final minute, but Cunningham found Duren for a dunk in the last 30 seconds to help the Pistons hold off Oklahoma City.
Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Thunder were already short-handed and wound up even more short-handed throughout the course of the game.
Late in the first quarter, Branden Carlson left with lower back soreness and did not return, while Isaiah Joe suffered a left glute contusion late in the second quarter and didn’t return.
Oklahoma City was not only without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell, who have all been out since before the All-Star break, but also Isaiah Hartenstein, Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso.
Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart served the fifth contest of a seven-game suspension.
Even without all but one of its normal starters against the Eastern Conference’s top team, Oklahoma City jumped out to a big lead early behind its defense.
The Thunder closed the first quarter on a 15-2 run to take a 12-point lead. Seven of those points off turnovers came in the final four minutes of the quarter.
But Detroit quickly got back in the game in the second, cutting the deficit to one with a 9-0 run, kick-started by back-to-back rebounds and putbacks from Ronald Holland II early in the second.
The Pistons then pulled ahead with a 19-10 run over the final four minutes of the second quarter to take the lead for good.
Without Holmgren and Hartenstein in the middle for Oklahoma City, Detroit dominated in the paint, outscoring the Thunder 70-32.
Jaylin Williams led the Thunder with a career-high 30 points and 11 rebounds. Williams’ previous career high was 24. Cason Wallace added 23.
–Field Level Media
