Morris' Career Night Leads Pistons Over Timberwolves, 116-108
NOAH TRISTER
AP Sports Writer
AUBURN HILLS (AP) — Marcus Morris scored a career-high 36 points, and the Detroit Pistons held off the Minnesota Timberwolves 116-108 on Friday night.
Jon Leuer added a career-high 24 points for Detroit, which won despite 5-for-20 shooting from its starting backcourt of Reggie Jackson and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Morris scored 13 of his points in the third quarter.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 24 points and 11 rebounds for Minnesota, and Andrew Wiggins added 21 points. Zach LaVine scored 20 points for the Timberwolves.
Andre Drummond had 12 points and 18 rebounds for the Pistons.
Detroit led 92-82 in the fourth quarter before a 7-0 run by the Timberwolves cut the lead to three. The Pistons responded with a 10-0 run of their own.
Morris surpassed his previous career high of 34 points when he scored his final two points on free throws with 24.2 seconds remaining. Those put Detroit up 112-106.
EXTRA OPTIONS
It was the second straight game that at least one of Detroit's complementary starters reached a career high in scoring. Caldwell-Pope had 38 points in a win over New Orleans on Wednesday. He was held to only two against Minnesota.
Morris picked up the slack by going 5 of 9 from 3-point range, and the Pistons can be tough to beat when they get that kind of production from somebody other than Jackson and Drummond.
Morris and Leuer were a combined 9 of 16 from beyond the arc. The rest of the Pistons went 2 of 10.
TIP-INS
Timberwolves: F Adreian Payne (illness) missed the game.
Pistons: Detroit assigned F Henry Ellenson and G Michael Gbinije to the team's Grand Rapids affiliate in the D-League before the game. ... The Pistons had 18 offensive rebounds, including six by Drummond. ... Leuer's previous career high was 23 points.
UP NEXT
Timberwolves: Host Memphis on Saturday night, the start of a six-game homestand.
Pistons: Visit Indiana on Saturday night.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
