AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – It's difficult to pick just one sensational stat line from Detroit's one-sided victory over Brooklyn on Friday night. The Pistons can only hope to say the same following Saturday's showdown with the visiting Denver Nuggets. Detroit rode big performances from Brandon Jennings, Josh Smith and Andre Drummond to a 111-95 win over the visiting Nets, while the Nuggets come in fresh off a 117-90 drubbing at the hands of the New York Knicks.
Taking advantage of a weary and shorthanded Brooklyn roster, Detroit made quick work of the overmatched Nets - going up by 29 at one point - and cruising to victory behind Jennings (26 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists), Smith (23 points, eight rebounds, seven assists) and Drummond (16 points, career-best 22 rebounds). The Nuggets will need to figure out how to tighten a porous defense that allowed the Knicks to shoot 56.5 percent from the floor.
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TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBATV, Altitude (Denver), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (24-24): The Nuggets hit the .500 mark with a resounding thud after surrendering 67 second-half points to a Knicks team that didn't even play superstar Carmelo Anthony in the final quarter. Turnovers killed Denver, which had 24 of them; the Knicks turned them into 27 points.
"I think at the end of the second quarter, when it was 44-44, we got five turnovers in a row and couldn't get a shot up, and that kind of pushed their lead," forward Kenneth Faried told reporters afterward. "They got the lead and after that I guess it was curtains."
ABOUT THE PISTONS (20-29): Friday marked a pivotal game for Jennings, who was still scoring at a strong clip but hadn't shot better than 47 percent in any of his previous four games. He didn't have a problem Friday night, going 8-for-13 from the floor while knocking down five 3-pointers and going a perfect 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. The 10 rebounds were a season high for the 24-year-old and he very nearly had an unofficial quadruple-double by overcoming a season-worst eight turnovers.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Denver has won six straight meetings, scoring at least 107 points five times during that stretch.
2. Jennings averages 14.6 points and 5.4 assists in eight career games versus the Nuggets.
3. The Pistons are a paltry 2-15 against the Western Conference.