On Monday night, Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren returned to the lineup following a two-game absence. As he recovered from a mild right ankle sprain, the Pistons kept streaking; entering Monday's home game against the struggling Indiana Pacers, Detroit had won nine in a row, its longest winning streak in 17 years.
The Pistons' early-season surge to the top of the Eastern Conference has demonstrated Detroit's impressive depth, as stars Duren, Cade Cunningham and Ausar Thompson have been out of the lineup with injuries. But Duren's return at Little Caesars Arena on Monday showed that Detroit's stars are as good as any other contender's best.
As the Pistons pushed their winning run to 10 games against the Pacers, Duren carved out a slice of NBA history to continue his sizzling start to the 2025/26 season -- at the end of which he could sign a max contract extension to stay in the Motor City.
Duren is Baby Dwight Howard
Duren dominated in the Pistons' 127-112 home win over the Pacers, scoring a game-high 31 points and grabbing 15 rebounds in only 29 minutes.
Most impressively perhaps, the 22-year-old made 12 of his 13 field-goal attempts for a 92.3 percent success rate. That included a highlight-reel slam dunk over Bennedict Mathurin in the second quarter.
JALEN DUREN WITH POWER 😤
— NBA (@NBA) November 18, 2025
He's up to 15 points & 7 boards in the 2nd quarter!
Watch on NBA League Pass: https://t.co/TiyATL0KDS pic.twitter.com/AaW7wgJnqe
Duren's incredible evening saw him become the first NBA player since Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Dwight Howard in 2010 to score at least 30 points and 15 rebounds while shooting 92 percent or better from the floor in a single game. It's a club that had only six players in it before Monday, when Duren became the seventh member.
The 12-2 Pistons' victory over the defending Eastern Conference champion Pacers (now 1-13) saw them maintain their 2.5-game lead atop the East. Only the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder (14-1) have a better record this year than Duren and the Pistons, who will soon welcome Cunningham and Thompson back to their lineup.
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