Drummond, Pistons top Wolves in battle of the big men

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Andre Drummond had 23 points and 18 rebounds and Reggie Jackson added 19 points and nine assists, leading the Detroit Pistons to a 115-90 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night.

Drummond came out with just over three minutes to play, narrowly missing his sixth 20-20 game of the season. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 22 points for the Pistons, who had lost three in a row.

Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 22 points and nine rebounds, while Andrew Wiggins had 21 points. Minnesota was coming off a 94-80 victory over Utah on Wednesday night.

The Pistons got off to another of the slow starts that have angered coach Stan Van Gundy for the last several games, trailing 22-15 at the end of the first quarter.

But they bounced back in the second, holding Minnesota to 26.1 percent shooting while outscoring the Timberwolves 30-15 for the quarter. Drummond and Jackson then used the high pick-and-roll to hurt Minnesota in the third.

Late in the quarter, the Timberwolves resorted to the usual technique of intentionally fouling Drummond. He missed two foul shots, dropping him to 1 for 7 on the night, and was quickly replaced by Aron Baynes.

Detroit had a 78-70 lead after three, and Anthony Tolliver and Stanley Johnson hit 3-pointers to help increase the advantage to 90-74 with 9:33 left.