First victory eludes Pistons
Raptors lose Lowry in defeat
First, Andre Iguodala threw a bad pass. Then, he took too many steps.
Two costly turnovers late in a close game. In his Denver home debut, no less.
Miffed by his miscues, Iguodala went to work, scoring six of his 17 points over the final three minutes to help the Denver Nuggets hold off the Detroit Pistons 109-97 Tuesday night.
“When I make a mistake, I really want to make it up,” Iguodala said.
And make it up he certainly did as he played a big role in the Nuggets snapping a threegame skid.
The Nuggets opened up a 17-point lead in the third quarter. The Pistons rallied in the final quarter, before Iguodala closed the door with two baskets and a pair of free throws.
Greg Monroe scored 27 points and 10 rebounds for the Pistons, who dropped their fourth straight. Detroit and Washington (0-2) are the only winless teams left in the NBA this season.
“We showed a lot of fight,” Monroe said. “We have to push through. At that point, three minutes left, seven-point game, that’s definitely a winnable game. We have to find a way to win tight games like that.”
Early in the fourth, Iguodala and Corey Brewer hit back-toback three-pointers to give the Nuggets a 96-80 lead. Moments later, JaVale McGee brought the crowd to its feet with a thunderous dunk off a lob from Andre Miller.
The Nuggets appeared to be cruising to the win with 7:41 left, but the Pistons made things interesting when Jonas Jerebko stole the ball from Iguodala and went in for the dunk.
The Pistons played their third of a winding six-game road swing. They return to California on Wednesday night to play Sacramento, before going to Oklahoma City and finishing up in Houston.
Rodney Stuckey came into the game in a shooting funk, hitting just one of his last 23 jumpers. But he found his range against the Nuggets as he finished with 17 points.
“He will always be a big part of our success,” Monroe said. “We need him to play like he did tonight, attacking the goal, getting to the free throw line. It was good to see that.”
Rolling Thunder
Russell Westbrook shrugged off a sore shoulder to score 19 points and the host Oklahoma City Thunder cruised past the Toronto Raptors 108-88 Tuesday night.
Wearing a black padded sleeve to protect his bruised left shoulder, Westbrook held Toronto’s leading scorer, Kyle Lowry, to two points on 1-of-4 shooting. Lowry exited with 1:29 left in the second quarter with a right ankle sprain and did not return.
Serge Ibaka added 17 points and a game-high nine rebounds for Oklahoma City. Kevin Durant and reserve Kevin Martin each scored 15.
The Thunder led by as many as 29 points and never trailed after Durant converted a pair of free throws with 7:44 remaining in the first quarter.
Jonas Valanciunas led the Raptors with 18 points.
Lowry appeared to twist his right ankle after landing on Thunder forward- centre Serge Ibaka’s foot while going for a rebound in the second quarter.