AUBURN HILLS, Mich. _ One game after scoring 38 points, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored two points, but the shooting of Marcus Morris and Jon Leuer saved the Detroit Pistons' offense in a 116-108 victory Friday night over Minnesota at the Palace.
Morris scored a career-high 36 points and Leuer added a career-high 24 points. Andre Drummond added 12 points and 18 rebounds.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 24 points and 11 rebounds for Minnesota. Andrew Wiggins scored 21 and Zach LaVine added 20 points.
The Pistons' Ish Smith, who finished the game when Reggie Jackson appeared to injury his left leg, pushed the tempo and came up with a fast-break layup to increase the Pistons' lead to 89-79 as Tom Thibodeau was forced to call time-out.
The Pistons (23-27) came apart at the offensive seams and the Timberwolves rallied to within 92-89 on a 3-pointer by Ricky Rubio (16 points) and a fast-break dunk by Shabazz Muhammad (15 points).
Defense saved the Pistons.
Two blocked shots, a couple of forced turnovers and baskets by Smith and Morris gave Detroit a 10-0 run for a 102-89 cushion.
Despite Caldwell-Pope going scoreless in the first half, the Pistons managed to put up 53 points and had a one-point halftime lead thanks to 15 from Morris.
Minnesota took a brief lead, but Drummond and Morris scored the next seven points as the Pistons regained the lead, 63-58.
Towns went to the bench after he picked up his fourth foul with 6:27 left in the third.
Morris kept draining triples. He hit two straight to keep the Pistons ahead, 74-70.
Minnesota stepped on the line three times in the third quarter, and Morris kept turning the turnovers into points. His jumper gave him 28 points and an 80-76 lead.
Tobias Harris' (14 points) 3 at the buzzer gave the Pistons an 83-76 lead with 12 minutes left.
Leuer had the unenviable task of guarding Towns.
The move worked early as the Pistons' power forward was able to put up five shots in the first six minutes, scoring seven points and helping the team to a 20-10 lead on a jump shot by Harris.
Drummond was called for his second foul with 3:02 left in the first quarter and retreated to the bench.
The Pistons led 24-18 after one with Leuer's seven points leading the way and the defense allowing just 29 percent shooting from the field.
Muhammad came off the bench for instant offense, scoring seven points in three minutes to keep the Wolves close at 34-29. Muhammad gave the Wolves their first lead with a triple, 36-35. Back to back baskets by Harris and Morris gave the Pistons a 39-36 edge.
Two dunks and a jump shot by LaVine had Minnesota back on top, 42-41.
LaVine poured in 16 points in the first half to lead all scorers. The stingy first-quarter Pistons' defense allowed the Wolves to shoot nearly 74 percent in the second quarter as the visitors scored 34 points.
