The Detroit Pistons pulled off an unforeseen comeback victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, 120-103. It was a 35-point turnaround in the final 19 minutes of the game.
Leading Detroit was Reggie Jackson, who scored a career-high 40 points. His counter partner, Andre Drummond picked up his sixth straight double-double with 29 points and 27 rebounds.
In the third quarter, the Trail Blazers led by 18, but the Pistons continued to close the gap and eventually found themselves close enough to win.
In the final quarter, Jackson scored 26 points. The defense kept Portland to 11 points, while the Detroit offense scored 41. It was the first win for the Pistons over the Trail Blazers since 2007.
"The funny thing is, when I was scoring I felt like we were scoring. I saw the ball going in the basket but I didn't necessarily know it was myself putting the ball in there a lot," Jackson said. "The team was just moving the ball, great screens which allowed me to get open, and I tried to be aggressive."
The Pistons (5-1) got a three-pointer from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to make it a six point deficit with 7:18 left. Drummond added a layup and Jackson scored a floater to tie the game.
"I told him (Jackson) it was time for him to take over," Drummond said. "I told him he needed to step it up and take over in this fourth quarter."
Once again, it was Jackson with a two-pointer to give the Pistons the lead with 4:46 left, which they never squandered. With the victory, the Pistons are 5-1 for the first time since the 2007-2008 season.
Just before the Caldwell-Pope three, Trail Blazers forward Ed Davis was ejected after back-to-back technical fouls. Both fouls were for arguing with the referees.
Leading the way for the Trail Blazers (4-3) was Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. Lillard had 26 points and 11 rebounds, a double-double, in the loss. McCollum chipped in 18 points, but it was not enough as Portland's three-game winning streak was snapped.
"We've got to learn from it," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. "We can't back down when teams turn up the pressure. We've got to be aggressive, we've got to do things a little bit better."
Myers Leonard played 33 minutes and scored 17 points with two rebounds and an assist for Portland, while Allen Crabbe was the surprise star for Portland, scoring 15 points off the bench in the loss.
Drummond, Caldwell-Pope, Jackson and Marcus Morris all scored double-digits on Sunday night. Morris tallied 13 points and three rebounds over 37 minutes.
The Detroit bench was led by Anthony Tolliver, who scored six over 22 minutes of action. Stanley Johnson, a rookie, played 20 minutes, but only scored three points.
"I've coached a long time and have never been part of a fourth quarter like that," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said.
The Trail Blazers will look to bounce back against the Denver Nuggets on Monday night, while the Pistons will travel to play the Golden State Warriors, who are the reigning NBA champions.