Jalen Duren collected 24 points and 11 rebounds and Paul Reed added 17 points off the bench, fueling the Detroit Pistons to a 117-95 victory over the host Washington Wizards on Thursday.
Duren followed up his career-high 36-point performance on 13-of-17 shooting in the Pistons’ 130-117 victory over the Wizards on Tuesday with another strong effort from the field. He made 9 of 15 shots for Detroit (50-19) on Thursday before exiting the game with 2:54 remaining in the third quarter for an undisclosed reason.
Thursday’s victory came several hours after the Pistons announced that star Cade Cunningham has been diagnosed with a collapsed lung and will be re-evaluated in two weeks.
Detroit, which reached the 50-win plateau for the first time since 2007-08, held a 66-26 advantage in points in the paint and a 56-35 edge in rebounds.
Duncan Robinson highlighted his 14-point performance with four 3-pointers on Thursday, two days after being limited to just eight on 3-of-9 shooting from the floor.
Caris LeVert and Kevin Huerter each had 14 points, Ausar Thompson had 10 points and nine rebounds and Daniss Jenkins mustered just nine points on 3-of-16 shooting while starting in place of Cunningham.
Tristan Vukcevic scored 21 points off the bench and rookie Will Riley added 15 points for the Wizards (16-53), who have lost 14 in a row since sweeping Indiana in a two-game set on Feb. 19-20.
The Pistons bolted out of the blocks by outscoring the Wizards 35-14 in the first quarter before seizing a 40-15 lead early in the second. Washington cut its deficit to 42-26 before tempers flared as Ron Holland III and Vukcevic were locked in a spirited discussion, prompting officials to intervene.
The Wizards pulled within five points at 50-45 after Riley sank a 3-pointer, but Detroit held firm and seized a 60-52 lead at halftime.
Robinson began the third quarter in the same manner as he started the first, sinking a pair of 3-pointers to stake the Pistons to a 69-55 lead.
The Wizards trimmed their deficit to 88-78 after three quarters before Pistons took control of the game. LeVert drained his third 3-pointer to stake Detroit to a 104-88 lead with 6 1/2 minutes to play in the fourth. The Pistons put it on cruise control from there.
