The New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Detroit Pistons 116-110 at the Little Caesars Arena on Friday night. The win for the Pelicans, who are third in the Western Conference standings, saw them bouncing back from their 125-114 defeat against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
Leading the way for New Orleans (26-17) was Jonas Valanciunas, who had a dominant performance after scoring 33 points and pulling down 16 rebounds, 12 of which were on the defensive end.
Valanciunas shot 12 of 15 from the field overall, went 6 of 7 for 13 points in the opening quarter, and also scored 12 of his points in the fourth. He was well supported by CJ McCollum, who had 19 points and nine assists, Trey Murphy III, who scored 19 points, and Naji Marshall, who contributed 17 points, six rebounds, and four assists in the victory.
The Pistons (12-34), in the meantime, were led by Bojan Bogdanovic, who tallied 22 points. Saddiq Bey contributed a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Hamidou Diallo also had a solid game, scoring 19 points and pulling down seven rebounds before fouling out.
Despite shooting well from the field, the Pistons struggled from beyond the arc, going 7-30 for 23.3%. The Pelicans, meanwhile, shot 42 of 86 from the field and 11 of 31 from 3-pointers. The visitors also outrebounded the Pistons 48-42 and led 59-50 at halftime.
Other notable performances for the Pistons included Killian Hayes, who had 17 points and six assists, and Jaden Ivey, who finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, and six assists in the defeat.
Points in the paint were even at 60 points each, with the Pelicans scoring 30 on 52 attempts and the Pistons achieving 30 on 47 attempts. In Fast break points, the Pelicans had 21 points on 8 of 11 attempts, while the Detroit had 26 points on 11 of 16 attempts.
Complete game stats and Box Score here
