Nuggets 103, Pistons 92
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Will Barton scored 20 points off the bench, including 15 during the fourth quarter, and the Denver Nuggets downed the depleted Detroit Pistons 103-92 on Wednesday at The Palace.
The shooting guard made 7 of 12 field-goal attempts and also pulled down five rebounds. Reserve center Jusuf Nurkic powered for 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Nuggets (21-33), who bounced back from a last-second loss to Brooklyn on Monday.
Denver's rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay had 14 points and six assists and small forward Danilo Gallinari contributed 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
The Pistons (27-27), who have lost six of their last eight games, had only nine available players and were missing three starters. Point guard Reggie Jackson and power forward Ersan Ilyasova were sidelined by illnesses while shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was nursing a core muscle strain.
Small forward Marcus Morris led Detroit with 19 points and six assists, point guard Brandon Jennings supplied 16 points and All-Star center Andre Drummond collected his league-leading 45th double-double with 15 points and 17 rebounds. Morris passed the 3,000-point mark in his career during the first half.
Neither club led by more than six during the third quarter but a late 9-3 Nuggets run helped them bring a 75-71 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Nuggets nudged the advantage to 81-73 with the aid of two Nurkic layups. Detroit power forward Anthony Tolliver, shut out to that point, soon hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut Denver's lead to one. A Nurkic putback made it 88-82.
Barton put the game away with a personal 7-0 run, making it 97-84 with 2:23 left.
Drummond and Morris scored 13 points apiece in the first half as Detroit led 53-52 at halftime. The Pistons led by 10, 46-36, after Drummond completed an 8-0 Pistons spurt with a three-point play. But Mudiay then got hot, scoring nine of his 12 first-half points, as the Nuggets finished the half on a 16-7 run.
NOTES: Former Pistons PG Chauncey Billups had his No. 1 jersey raised to the rafters during a halftime ceremony. Billups was the MVP of the 2004 NBA Finals. ... Pistons SG Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (core muscle strain) missed his fourth straight game. Backup SG Reggie Bullock (broken nose surgery) was also out. "We haven't really had a lot of problems and it's sort of jumped on us in the last 10 days or so," Detroit coach Stan Van Gundy said. "Normally, I don't like the (All-Star) break, but right now it's good for us." ... The Nuggets won nine of the last 11 meetings, including a 104-101 victory last month in Denver. ... Nuggets PG Jameer Nelson (left wrist sprain) was inactive for the 11th straight game. ... Denver SG Will Barton's fourth-quarter scoring average of 6.2 points ranks eighth in the league.