Detroit Pistons big man Jalen Duren had a feeling his team was special from day one
By all accounts, the Pistons and the Hornets still have a bit of bad blood left over from their brawl in early February, and traces of that tension slipped out onto the court during Detroit’s 118-110 victory in Charlotte on Friday night.
Two months ago, Pistons center Jalen Duren kickstarted the fireworks after he and Hornets center Moussa Diabate engaged in a fiery dispute that required teammate and coach intervention to extinguish. Eventually, Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart and Hornets forward Miles Bridges were sucked into the fight, and all four players walked away with suspensions for their part in the brawl.
On Friday night, Duren resisted any physical disputes of that variety, but he did encourage his teammates to exit the floor without offering any post-game handshakes to the hosts in Charlotte.
While the Eastern Conference game was quite back-and-forth through three quarters, Detroit pulled away in the final frame by dialing up their defensive intensity a few notches. The Pistons held the Hornets to just 10 points in the fourth quarter, and that stout, turnover-forcing effort helped springboard Detroit into the lead for good.
“It just shows how good we can be when we’re locked in,” Duren said after the game. “Whenever we’re playing as a team, playing connected, especially on the defensive end, I feel like nobody can beat us, nobody can score on us. It’s just a testament to us being locked in and having each other’s back.”
At the moment, the Hornets are on a collision course for the play-in games to determine if they’ll advance to the first round of the NBA Playoffs. But if they are able to do so, Charlotte might wind up right back in a four-to-seven game series with the top seed in the Eastern Conference. In a way, that means the Pistons’ 18-point victory over the Hornets on Friday could also serve as a preview, another data point on Charlotte heading into the postseason.
“I think it benefits us because we get to see them early or before we potentially see them again in the playoffs to kind of get a feel for them, see how we match up for them,” Duren said. “It gets us ready for what we’re about to see potentially. I think it’s good for us.”
Duren logged 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists against the Hornets while battling Diabate for most of the contest. Once again, Diabate struggled from the floor and contributed just eight points against the All-Star, which mirrors the one-sided production from their matchup back in February.
“I think, for us, we were more so focused on what we’re trying to accomplish,” Duren said. “We’re still trying to get 60 wins, so obviously they’re fighting for something too."
As JD alluded to, the Pistons have an opportunity to reach the 60-win mark for only the third time in franchise history if they can take down the Indiana Pacers on Sunday. If Detroit is able to accomplish that feat, it would be just the latest in what’s become a long line of impressive achievements from the Pistons this season. Most would say that reaching 60 victories was well above Detroit’s ceiling when the season started, but not according to Duren.
“I always thought sky was the limit for this team, these group of guys early on,” Duren said. “Just seeing the type of guys we had through the summer, even through training camp, seeing how much guys connected and were all working for the common goal, I knew we could be special. Obviously, I couldn’t pinpoint how many wins we would get, how successful we would be, but I understand and I’ve seen that guys were really on a mission.”
That type of confidence is a big part of Duren’s progression in his fourth NBA season. Duren made the All-Star team a couple months back, and he’s added quite a few layers to his game, and that growth has been key for the Pistons all year long.
Moving forward, Duren plans to keep building on that success in the postseason in what he hopes will be a long run for the Pistons to cap off an already memorable campaign.
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