The Detroit Pistons were down by six at halftime, but dominated the third and fourth quarter to complete the comeback win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, 96-86.
Leading the way for the Pistons was Andre Drummond. The center tallied 21 points, 11 rebounds and two steals and a block over 29 minutes of action. He recorded his 12th straight double-double to start the season. Drummond, however, had just four points and four rebounds in the first half after foul trouble.
"I thought he started real slow tonight," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said. "But he found it somewhere and in the second half he was really good."
The Pistons started 7-for-10 from the field, but then went 9-for-32 to fall behind in the first half. Eventually, Detroit cut it to a six point deficit at halftime before turning the game around in the second half.
While Drummond led the way on the stat sheet, Reggie Jackson provided dominance down the stretch. It seemed as if he was scoring the basketball every time down the court.
He scored a layup to give the Pistons a seven point lead with 2:06 left to play in the game. Jackson did it again with 1:37 left in the game on a layup after blowing by Ricky Rubio without a problem to give the Pistons a nine point lead.
The 25-year-old finished with 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field. Jackson added five assists, five rebounds and a steal in the win.
The Pistons were tested by Andrew Wiggins over and over again on Friday night. Over 36 minutes, Wiggins totaled 21 points, five rebounds and three assists. Karl-Anthony Towns had 18 points and seven rebounds for the Timberwolves.
Rookie forward Stanley Johnson put the nail in the coffin with a corner three-point jumper to give the Pistons a 96-84 lead with just over a minute to play.
Out of The University of Arizona, Johnson struggled early in the season, but has come into his own as of late. In the win over Minnesota, the 19-year-old scored 15 points off the bench, with two rebounds and an assist.
As for the bench play for Minnesota, they were led by Zach LaVine, the 20-year-old point guard. He scored 14 points, while adding two assists and three rebounds. Rubio finished with 12 points and seven assists.
LaVine gave the Timberwolves life with a huge dunk to make it a five point deficit for the home team with under five minutes to play, but Jackson's two straight scores gave the Pistons (7-5) the win.
"We just decided to play defense," Jackson said. "We keyed in, we really did the things that we wanted to do. We tried to limit the spacing on the floor, tried to play tighter defense."
Many have noted that Drummond recorded a double-double, but so did forward Marcus Morris with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
The Timberwolves (5-8) have dropped to 0-6 at home this season, which is the second-worst home start in franchise history.
"We can't score," said coach Sam Mitchell, whose Timberwolves went 3 for 13 on 3s. "We're getting shots. We're missing them. We've just got to score better."
On Saturday, the Pistons will face the Washington Wizards, while the Timberwolves will have a day off before hosting the Philadelphia 76ers, who are 0-13, on Monday.