It takes two to tango, and both Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren brought their dancing shoes to the Pistons’ 125-107 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. Now standing at 7-2 on the season, Detroit is currently the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference after the Chicago Bulls slid to 6-2 by losing to the Milwaukee Bucks tonight. The Pistons are also 1-0 in the NBA Cup after their 18-point win on Friday night.

Detroit’s victory, the team’s fifth consecutive, was largely powered by a staggering 80 points in the paint, and Duren was responsible for a healthy portion of that metric. In total, Duren logged 30 points and 11 rebounds on the night with a consistent presence in the air and near the rim thanks to a handful of lobs from Cunningham, Ausar Thompson and others. 

As for Detroit’s showrunner, Cunningham dialed up the offensive intensity a bit earlier after logging 19 points in the fourth quarter of the Pistons’ last two wins. Instead, Cunningham began working his way around the floor, unable to be sped up in his process by the Nets, and worked through contact at the hoop to help Detroit to its fifth-straight win.

LeVert Gives His Assessment On First Half

Early in the first quarter, Cunningham started it off with a triple for the Pistons, but the Nets quickly seized possession with a bevy of three-pointers of their own. In particular, Noah Clowney connected on four shots from distance en route to 17 points in the first half for Brooklyn. So, Detroit fell into a familiar hole early on, but the Pistons battled back in the second quarter to eventually hold a 60-55 lead at halftime. 

“It was a bit of a choppy game, a lot of fouls called,” Pistons guard Caris LeVert said at halftime. “I think our stops — we put together some stops at the end of the quarter, hit some shots, and that was big when we were tired.”

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In Detroit’s win, LeVert posted 10 points, four assists and three rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench. In his short time with the Pistons, LeVert has yet to look like he’s fully settled into his role on the squad, but tonight’s performance was a step closer towards that goal. 

Beef Stew Leaves The Game

In the first half, Isaiah Stewart carried out his starting duties as he continued to fill in for an injured Tobias Harris, but Beef Stew picked up an injury of his own against Brooklyn. While trying to jumpstart Detroit in transition, Stewart lost his balance and deeply rolled his ankle before regaining his footing and continuing down the court. Now, Stewart clearly was dealing with a limp at the time, but he did not leave the game at the time and finished out the first half.

Once the Pistons returned from halftime, it was revealed that Stewart would be held out of the rest of the game due to his ankle injury. Given Stewart’s position in the starting lineup as a fill-in for Harris, another ankle injury to the Pistons’ starting power forward would spell bad news for an already beaten up Detroit bench. The Pistons have had at least three players carry an injury designation into every game this season, so Detroit has not yet taken the court at full strength– or even close. 

After tonight’s victory, the Pistons will have a day off before traveling to Philadelphia for a 7:30 game against the 76ers. 

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