When Cade Cunningham went down in the first quarter on Tuesday night, the Detroit Pistons needed someone to step into the void. Jalen Duren didn’t just fill it; he turned the night into something historic.
The 22-year-old All-Star center delivered a career-best performance to power Detroit past the Washington Wizards 130-117 at Capital One Arena, improving the Pistons to 49-19 on the season.
Jalen Duren Delivers Career-High 36 Points and 12 Rebounds to Carry Pistons Past Wizards
Jalen Duren finished with 36 points on 13-of-17 shooting from the field and 10-of-11 from the free-throw line, adding 12 rebounds for his 35th double-double of the season. It was his seventh 30-point game of the year and his sixth with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds. It’s a powerful combination that puts him in rare company among players his age.
At 22 years and 119 days old, Duren became the second-youngest player in Pistons franchise history to record 35-plus points and 10-plus rebounds in a game, trailing only Isiah Thomas.
The performance was set in motion by Cunningham’s early exit. The Pistons’ star point guard collided with Tre Johnson of the Wizards while trying to recover a loose ball at the 8:06 mark of the first quarter and did not return, later diagnosed with back spasms.
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Cunningham had managed just 6 points in 5 minutes before leaving the game, and coach J.B. Bickerstaff was without an update on his status afterward.
With their primary playmaker sidelined, Detroit leaned on Duren to carry the offensive load. And he responded immediately.
He scored 9 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in the first quarter alone, then erupted for 14 points in the opening 6 minutes of the third quarter as the Pistons built a lead as large as 22 points. Washington simply had no answer for him in the paint, where Detroit finished with 68 points scored inside.
“He was dominant,” Bickerstaff said. “They were playing small, and we had the advantage in the paint. I thought he did a great job of taking advantage of it.”
Despite the individual brilliance, Duren was quick to deflect credit after the game. “It’s just me trying to do what my teammates and my coaches ask me,” he told Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press. “It’s not all about me. I think my teammates find me in spots to be great. JB puts me in spots to be great. That’s just credit to them, man.”
The numbers backed up Duren’s sentiments. Detroit’s bench contributed 62 points on the night, with Daniss Jenkins stepping up prominently in Cunningham’s absence, finishing with 15 points, 6 assists, and 2 steals.
Tobias Harris added 12 points and 6 rebounds, while Ron Holland II, Caris LeVert, and Paul Reed each chipped in 10 points off the bench. The Pistons also recorded 31 assists, well above their season average of 26.9, reflecting the ball movement that has underpinned their rise to the top of the Eastern Conference.
“It comes down to consistency on the defensive end of the floor for us,” Bickerstaff said. “I thought in that third quarter, we did a great job defensively executing coverages and making things difficult on them, getting back to the grittiness that we have played with in order to be successful.”
Detroit will remain in Washington for a second matchup against the Wizards while monitoring Cunningham’s condition ahead of the rematch. With 14 games remaining, the Pistons are firmly in control of the East. And on nights like Tuesday, they look like a team that doesn’t need any single player to carry them.
