DETROIT _ The Detroit Pistons' early-season Palace dominance was put to the test Monday night with center Andre Drummond in a nice suit while nursing a sprained right ankle behind the Pistons.
They passed with flying colors.
Aron Baynes, forced into the starting lineup, had 20 points and eight rebounds as the Pistons remained the last perfect team at home with a 104-88 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. He left the game after taking a shot to his perpetually broken nose.
Tobias Harris added 22 points, as the Pistons are now 5-0 at the Palace.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 17 points and managed to slow Thunder guard Russell Westbrook in the second half (eight of a game-high 33 points).
Beno Udrih added 10 points off the bench on 5-for-7 shooting.
The Pistons (6-5) have won all five games at the Palace by at least 13 points. The average margin of victory has been 17.4 points per game.
Westbrook, making an early-season MVP case, was his usual aggressive self with 11 points in the first quarter. He brought awes at the 6:09 mark of the first quarter when Caldwell-Pope forced him left and when help was late, Westbrook tomahawked an emphatic one-handed dunk.
The dunk was so ferocious, the ball bounced off Westbrook's head and into the seats. The Thunder star stopped and admired his handiwork during the brief stoppage.
But the Pistons still led, 12-9, at that point and were able to take a 28-25 lead at the end of the first quarter behind eight points from Caldwell-Pope.
Beno Udrih (six points) fueled a Pistons' 13-0 run early in the second quarter and a Harris jumper gave the Pistons a 55-37 lead at the 2:43 mark.
But Westbrook scored the Thunder's last 14 points of the first half and his 16-footer with 27 seconds cut the Pistons lead to nine at 56-47.
But Baynes answered with a three-point play to give the Pistons a 59-47 lead at halftime. Baynes and Harris scored 13 points each in the first half.
The Pistons pushed the lead to 19 at the 5:07 mark of the third quarter, but the Thunder surged again to cut the deficit to 78-68 going into the fourth quarter.
With Drummond out, the fans got their wish to see 7-foot-3 center Boban Marjanovic and he contributed four points, four rebounds and two blocked shots.
He got the crowd going early in the fourth quarter when he blocked Thunder center Stephen Adams without jumping.
