The Detroit Pistons rode a strong fourth quarter to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 113–108, on Friday for their eighth win in ten games.
Jalen Duren had 22 points and 14 rebounds for the Pistons, who outscored the Wolves, 34–28, to turn an 80–79 deficit into another win—their seventh without main man Cade Cunningham. Daniss Jenkins continues to step up in Cunningham’s absence, tallying a game-high 26 on top of 5 boards and 8 dimes.
Julius Randle finished with 27 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists for the Wolves, who were without their own main man, Anthony Edwards, due to a right knee injury and illness.
Pistons Charging On Even Without Cunningham
Remarkably, the Pistons are continuing to win even without Cunningham, who has been sidelined for two weeks now due to a collapsed lung suffered in Detroit’s March 18 outing against the Washington Wizards.
With Cunningham’s injury, which was forecast to extend until the end of the NBA regular season, most pundits expected the then 49–19 Pistons to fall off and possibly cede the No. 1 seed in the East. Cunningham, after all, is the Pistons’ main man, and the 24.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 9.9 assists he puts up are hard to replace.
But rather than fall off, Detroit has continued to hum, going 7–2 in the nine games Cunningham has missed so far and losing only to the red-hot Atlanta Hawks and the NBA-leading Oklahoma City Thunder. Two players—Duren and Jenkins—have mostly made this possible, as they have raised their game in Cunningham’s absence. Since Cunningham went down, Duren has been averaging 23.5 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 3.3 assists, while Jenkins has been putting up 19.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 6.6 assists.
As a result, the Pistons are now 56–21 and are just two wins away from clinching the No. 1 seed in the East. They will try to get the first of those wins on Saturday when they face the Philadelphia 76ers. The Wolves will try to bounce back on Sunday, also against the Sixers.
