Jalen Duren shows off complete game in Pistons upset of Thunder: 'Everybody can see it'

Jalen Duren was asked about a standout day, both for him and the Detroit Pistons. They had just pulled off their biggest win of the season — a 120-104 blowout over the contending Oklahoma City Thunder — and he was the catalyst.

He led the Pistons with 22 points and 21 rebounds, the first 20-20 game of his young career. But that wasn’t all.

“And six assists,” he said at the Little Caesars Arena podium.

It was the most complete game of Duren’s career, and he wanted it known. The 20-year-old did it all for a Pistons team that dominated the final three quarters of the game without Cade Cunningham, a late scratch as he continues to recover from a left knee strain.

Duren’s performance exemplified the myriad of ways the second-year center has improved compared to last year. He’s scoring the ball more efficiently with more finesse, dishing more assists while doing a better job taking care of it, and has maintained his status as one of the league’s elite rebounders. His assists, total rebounds and offensive rebounds (9) on Sunday were all career-highs.

“Honestly, we were able to get the win and that’s what I’m most happy about, it’s a big-time win,” Duren said. “Especially after yesterday. Just happy about that. 20 and 20 is 20 and 20, but for me I knew it was bound to happen at some time so I wasn’t really that worried about it.”

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We’ll start with his assists. Duren has generated a lot of offense, for himself and his teammates, this season with dribble handoffs at the top of the key. That was there Sunday — Bojan Bogdanovic got a few early looks inside the arc thanks to Duren’s high screens.

But Duren has also improved as an all-around playmaker. He kicked out from the paint to find Marcus Sasser and Jaden Ivey for open 3-pointers, and found Alec Burks cutting for a layup after recovering a loose ball.

Duren has shown passing flashes since early in his rookie season, but has had a more central role as a hub this season with the team pushing him to expand his offense while Cunningham missed nine of the past 10 games. His assist average is up from 1.1 last season to 2.6 this season.

He’s also displaying more confidence as a ball-handler and finisher at the rim.

“The system is helping him out a lot,” Ivey said postgame. “We talk about it a lot, just expanding the system. I think when I’m coming off the ball screen, if I don’t have it he gets downhill and gets to what he does best, and he likes that spin hook, or spin and get to the rim. It’s been working for him. He’s just gotta keep using his God-given gifts. Everybody can see it. He’s so strong and he’s so strong getting downhill. Him being able to do that, it really opens up for the rest of the group.”

On one early possession, Duren drove the ball into Chet Holmgren’s chest before floating a jump hook over his outstretched arms. Holmgren, the second pick of the 2022 draft, has been a defensive standout and rookie of the year contender after missing all of last season with a foot injury. His 2.5 blocks per game are fourth in the league. He wasn’t able to bother Duren, who hit another hook over Holmgren early in the second half and shot 9-for-13 from the field. Thunder undersized backup Jaylin Williams also had issues against Duren, 6 feet 10 and 250 pounds.

Duren’s touch and footwork in the paint have improved. He has been given more freedom to handle the ball and attack gaps in the defense. His jumper needs work, but his accuracy at the rim and from short midrange is better compared to his rookie season.

“I just think he’s putting the work in,” Pistons coach Monty Williams said. “I’ve told him if he’s gonna be the guy that we feel like he can be, he’s gotta own that position. Earlier, I thought that he was renting it because he would show flashes of it and then you wouldn't see it. We just talk about the work that goes into being a solid player, then a good player, then a really good player and then a great player, on and on and on, you have to put in tons of work and just repeat those moves.

“I don’t know anybody better than (assistant coach) Mark Bryant to be in the lab and work on those kinds of moves. He’s worked on his footwork, he’s certainly worked on his touch and it’s a work-in-progress, but we can see some growth.”

The Pistons, after losing to an eight-win Washington Wizards team at home on Saturday, answered on Sunday with their most complete game. At halftime, they had 18 assists and just a single turnover. The second unit led runs in the second and third quarters to help the Pistons turn an early 10-point deficit into a 14-point lead entering the fourth.

With Cunningham set to return at some point, the team is hanging onto the belief that, more than halfway through the season, there’s still something to prove. Cunningham’s status for Wednesday's road game at the Cleveland Cavaliers, as of now, is unclear. But his absence allowed Duren to step into a bigger role as a creator — a role he thrived in Sunday.

The Pistons, now 6-40 overall, hope to keep the momentum rolling.

“It should spark something,” Duren said. “Hopefully we can string them together. We’ve got guys who are banged up right now and we’re praying for a quick recovery for all those guys. Hopefully for the guys who are playing, it sparks a certain type of energy.”

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Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him @omarisankofa.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jalen Duren shows off complete game in Detroit Pistons upset of OKC