Pistons bounce back 'big time', dump Western Conference contender Thunder

Detroit — It was the calm before the storm.

Detroit sports fans gathered inside Little Caesars Arena for the matinee before the main event. The Pistons hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder shortly before the Lions faced the San Francisco 49ers in the evening for a chance to go to the Super Bowl.

The Honolulu blue Lions jerseys scattered throughout the crowd made it apparent that fans were ready to cheer on their football team, but there was a basketball game to be played. And despite an obvious disadvantage on paper, the Pistons overcame the odds and upset the Thunder in resounding fashion, 120-104.

BOX SCORE: Pistons 120, Thunder 104

Detroit captured its most formidable win of the season to improve to 6-40. It was also the first win of the season over a Western Conference opponent, which snapped a 17-game losing streak. The Pistons finished 2-4 in their six-game homestand and will face a four-game stretch against more potential playoff teams, starting with Wednesday's one-leg roadtrip to Cleveland.

“I just think our guys care," Pistons coach Monty Williams said. "I called a timeout and I said, 'I'm OK with them making shots, but we gotta go compete the way we compete to give ourselves a chance. There was every reason to come up with excuses and they would've been valid. ... We just competed our tails off."

The Pistons survived a barrage of scoring by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the third quarter and entered the fourth quarter with a 14-point lead thanks to a 13-2 run. Detroit continued to execute and took advantage of the Thunder's lineup, which was without Gilgeous-Alexander in the final quarter.

Jalen Duren compiled the first 20-20 game of his career. He finished with 22 points and a career-high 21 rebounds with six assists. Jaden Ivey totaled 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Bojan Bogdanovic added 17 points.

Cade Cunningham was originally listed as a starter, but was a late scratch due to left knee injury management. It's the ninth game he's missed this season after playing in the Pistons' first 36 games. Killian Hayes started in his place and struggled with just two points, three rebounds and three assists in nearly 14 minutes of action.

"Cade couldn't go just because we felt like on a back-to-back, if there was any level of caution or anything we were concerned about, we just didn't feel good about putting him out there," Williams said.

The injury bug bit the Pistons once again as Stewart rolled his left ankle at the 9:10 mark of the fourth quarter and did not return. He finished with 11 points on 5-of-10 from the field.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 31 points with five rebounds and four assists for the Thunder. He did not play in the fourth quarter, but totaled 13 of his 31 in the third quarter. Jalen Williams added 20 points for Oklahoma City. Thunder guard Josh Giddey finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

The Pistons led 111-95 with a little over five minutes left when Duren went to the free-throw line and "Jared Goff" chants rang out inside of Little Caesars Arena. It was the beginning of a celebration for one Detroit franchise that most hoped would carry over to the Sunday's big game between the Lions and 49ers.

Once the final buzzer sounded, fans gave their team a standing ovation for pulling off the NBA's biggest upset of the season.

The win over the second-best team in the NBA held a deal of significance because the Pistons had lost to the Washington Wizards — who has the second-worst record in the league — on Saturday afternoon.

“It was big time, especially after yesterday," Duren said. "We didn’t come out anything like how we wanted to yesterday. We were really flat. Today, the main focus was keeping that energy. We know what type of team (Oklahoma City) is. They’ve been playing great this year. They’re a playoff team, so we knew we had to come ready to play.”

mcurtis@detroitnews.com

@MikeACurtis2