Duren Scored 24 in 15 Minutes. Minnesota Had No Answer Inside.

Detroit beat Minnesota 128–106, and Jalen Duren made a ridiculous amount of noise for somebody who only played 15 minutes. Twenty-four points on 8-for-9 shooting in a quarter of an hour. That's the kind of line that makes people open the box score twice. But the Pistons didn't win by 22 solely because Duren had a good night; they controlled the inside 64–30 in points in the paint and shot 57 percent from the field compared with Minnesota's 38.

Detroit: paint touches, passing and a real response

Duren was the eye-catcher, but Cade Cunningham managed 14 points and nine assists in 25 minutes. Duncan Robinson supplied 15 and went 4-for-5 from three, and Isaiah Joe added 14. The Pistons posted 33 assists, hit 44 percent of their threes and had 45 rebounds to the Timberwolves' 34. That's how you make a center's finishing look easy: move the ball, keep the floor spaced and force the other team to defend more than one option.

It wasn't a wire-to-wire blowout. Minnesota took the first quarter 38–29. Detroit answered with a 36–20 second quarter to flip the game to 65–58 at halftime. Then the Pistons won the third 32–24. That's a useful preseason sequence: they got punched first, made adjustments and took control rather than needing the opponent to hand them a lead.

Minnesota: Edwards scored, but the interior got away

Anthony Edwards led the Wolves with 20, although he was just 5-for-15 from the field and 1-for-5 from three. Jonathan Kuminga put up 16 on 5-for-6 and supplied a more efficient scoring burst. Jaden McDaniels scored 12, while Rudy Gobert was held to eight points and four rebounds in 22 minutes. Minnesota shot 32 percent from deep and had 23 assists, ten fewer than Detroit.

The Wolves' paint defense was the real concern. Giving up 64 inside while scoring 30 of your own is a huge hole to dig, even if both staffs are experimenting with their rotations. Their 20 turnovers were identical to Detroit's, so this wasn't a case where one team simply misplaced the ball twice as often. Detroit made better decisions after gaining possession and finished its chances much more efficiently.

6ix Take: Duren is the headline, team basketball is the story

I like physical basketball, and Duren looked like he was playing a different sport from the defenders in front of him. Still, I refuse to turn every recap into 'player X scored 24, the end.' Cade finding people, shooters opening the floor and the Pistons answering Minnesota's early run are the reason that stat line helped turn into a comfortable win. That's the actual basketball story.

Minnesota has scoring talent. Edwards can get 20 on a bad shooting night, and Kuminga was efficient. But that doesn't excuse giving up a layup line and losing the boards. Get stronger at the point of attack, box somebody out and see whether the combinations can work defensively. If this were my team, that paint footage would be first in tomorrow's film session.