Mason Plumlee notched his first triple-double in the 557th game of his career, Josh Jackson scored a team-high 21 points and the host Detroit Pistons downed the New Orleans Pelicans 123-112 on Sunday.
Plumlee had 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists as the Pistons won back-to-back games for the first time since January of last season. Svi Mykhailiuk supplied 18 points and Delon Wright contributed 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Saddiq Bey added 16 points and Jerami Grant tossed in 15.
The Pistons rested starting forward Blake Griffin.
Zion Williamson, coming off a career-high 36-point outing, had 26 points and eight rebounds for New Orleans. Brandon Ingram also scored 26 points with seven assists and Steven Adams added 13 points and 12 rebounds but the Pelicans lost their third straight.
New Orleans allowed 25 3-pointers in each of its previous two losses. Its defense didn’t improve much, as Detroit knocked down 17 of 35 attempts from beyond the arc.
The Pistons led 77-70 four minutes into the second half following a Plumlee layup. His bounce pass to Mykhailiuk for a layup with 3:44 left in the quarter made it 88-81.
Mykhailiuk hit a 3-pointer during a 9-0 run late in the quarter that pushed Detroit’s lead to 97-84. New Orleans scored the last five points of the quarter, including an Ingram long ball, to cut its deficit to eight.
Mykhailiuk’s 3-pointer from the top of the key gave Detroit a 108-97 advantage with under eight minutes left.
Jackson’s layup with just over four minutes left kept the spread at 11 points, 116-105. Jackson fired in a 3-pointer with 1:35 remaining for a 12-point lead. Detroit made free throws to close out the victory.
Detroit gave up 40 points in the first quarter and trailed by 12 early in the second quarter. Its defense tightened while Plumlee and Jackson carried their club to a 64-62 halftime lead.
Plumlee had 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists during the half, while Jackson scored 12 points in eight minutes off the bench. Williamson led the Pelicans with 18 points.