Detroit Pistons Fend Off Denver Nuggets Comeback In Narrow 124-121 Win

In a high-scoring affair in the “Motor City” on Tuesday night, the Detroit Pistons were able to survive a late comeback by the Denver Nuggets to notch their 37th win of the season in a dramatic finish.

Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren Star in the Win for Pistons

There was plenty to like about the Pistons’ play on offense in their win tonight. The All-Star tandem of Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren continues to be the driving factor for the top team in the East. Cunningham led the way in both scoring and playmaking. He finished with a team-high 29 points and 10 assists to pace Detroit’s offense. Meanwhile, Duren dropped 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in another impressive outing for the star big man.

Detroit continues to use sharpshooters, knocking down 12 threes at an efficient 41% clip in the win. Pistons Shooting Guard Duncan Robinson served as the x-factor in that department. He scored in 6 threes to finish with a nice 20 points tonight. All five starters for the Pistons finished in double figures. The Pistons’ bench would also join in on the action, as the second unit finished with 35 points in the win.

Nuggets Fourth Quarter Rally Falls Short

Although it wasn’t the most efficient of outings on offense for the Nuggets’ high-powered offense, the play of both Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic kept Denver firmly in the game. That was the case for the Nuggets in the fourth quarter, as Denver would outscore the Pistons 41-31 as Jokic and Murray began to heat up on offense. Jokic finished with a monster double-double of 24 points and 15 rebounds, while Murray dropped 32 points in a valiant effort by both players.

While Denver’s offense wasn’t operating at its highest efficiency, the Nuggets’ penchant for drawing fouls also helped them close the gap in the final period. The Nuggets would shoot 37-of-43 from the charity stripe. The one area of the game in which the Nuggets struggled mightily was in their fast-break defense. The Pistons put the pedal to the floor each time they had a chance to run in transition, as Detroit would outscore the Nuggets on the fast break 26-9.

Current Conference Standings and Upcoming Games for Each Team

Following the win tonight, the Pistons are slowly building up their lead for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Detroit now holds a commanding six-game lead over the second-place New York Knicks and third-place Boston Celtics. The Pistons will have a chance to further increase their lead when they play the Washington Wizards on Thursday and the New York Knicks in a pivotal matchup on Friday night. Both of those games will take place at home for Detroit.

For the Nuggets, this game marked their second straight loss, which now puts them at two games back of the San Antonio Spurs for the second-place spot in the West. However, Denver fans can take some comfort in the fact that both of these losses came against the two best teams in the NBA record-wise. Unfortunately for the Nuggets, the schedule doesn’t lighten up much over the next few games, as they’ll go on the road to New York City for a date with the Knicks tomorrow night.