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Duren double-double powers Pistons over Thunder / Photo: © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Duren double-double powers Pistons over Thunder
Jalen Duren scored 22 points and grabbed 21 rebounds to lead the lowly Detroit Pistons to a 120-104 NBA victory over Oklahoma City on Sunday, snapping the Thunder's five-game winning streak.
The Pistons posted just their sixth win of the season despite the absence of leading scorer Cade Cunningham, who was a late scratch to manage knee trouble.
It looked like more disappointment for Detroit -- who matched a league record for futility with 28 straight defeats this season -- when the Thunder jumped to a 10-point lead early in the first quarter.
But the Pistons were up by nine at halftime and never trailed in the second half.
Duren's career-high in rebounds included nine of the Pistons' 15 offensive boards.
"It's cool," Duren said of his first career 20-20 game, but he was more pleased to put up a win after the Pistons lost four of their previous five games.
That included a double-digit loss to the woeful Washington Wizards on Saturday in Cunningham's first game back from an eight-game injury absence.
"It was big-time," Duren said of beating the Thunder, who had 31 points from newly named All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a defeat that dropped them to 32-14 -- tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves atop the Western Conference.
"Especially after yesterday -- we didn't come out nothing like we wanted to yesterday, we were really flat. Today the main focus was keeping that energy.
"We knew what type of team this is, they've been playing great this year. We knew we had to come out ready to play," Duren said.
P. O'Kelly--BTZ
