MINNEAPOLIS – Bojan Bogdanovic scored 28 points, including 17 in the third quarter as the Detroit Pistons erased a double-digit deficit, getting 65 points from their bench in a 116-104 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Marvin Bagley III had 18 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for Detroit, which had lost seven of eight and trailed by 18 points in the first quarter. The Pistons stayed within range and burst ahead with a 32-9 run at the end of the third and start of the fourth.
Reserve Alec Burks added 13 points for Detroit. The Pistons lead the NBA in bench points since the start of December.
Anthony Edwards scored 30 and D’Angelo Russell added 25 points in a lackluster performance from Minnesota, which returned home after a winless four-game road trip and lost its sixth in a row.
Russell scored 13 of the Timberwolves’ first 21 points and Minnesota used a 26-8 run early in the first to take an 18-point lead.
Detroit’s reserves entered and got back within 10 and the teams traded blows for the next two quarters.
Bogdanovic then hit three 3s midway through the third to spark the Pistons, who tied the game before the end of the quarter. Another reserve, Hamidou Diallo, supplied Detroit with its first lead with 10:37 left in the fourth.
The Wolves tied the game before the Pistons scored 11 in a row to take control.
Tip-ins
Pistons: Diallo returned after his one-game suspension for his part in the altercation with the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. Killian Hayes served the second game of his three-game suspension. … Saddiq Bey scored 13, just the second starter in double digits along with Bogdanovic. All five reserves that played scored in double digits.
Timberwolves: Rudy Gobert returned after missing one game with an illness and had nine points and 10 rebounds. He was scoreless in the first half. … Edwards had 14 and Russell added 13 in the first.
Next up
Pistons: Play the second game of a five-game road trip Monday in Portland.
Timberwolves: Host Denver on Monday.