NBA: Rudy Gobert counters Monster-Jokic on return

Rudy Gobert has returned strong after five games in Corona protocol while the Golden State Warriors take a dip in Minnesota. The No. 1 pick concedes a curious ejection against Phoenix.

Detroit Pistons (10-32) – Phoenix Suns (33-9) 108:135 (BOXSCORE)

• Mandatory task for the Suns, who did it accordingly clearly – mainly thanks to Devin Booker, who was in the best mood in his home state of Michigan (Booker comes from Grand Rapids) and put up a strong 30 points at 11/18 from the field. “I was just hitting shots and the guys served me the ball in all the right places,” said the All-Star. “I couldn’t come here very often as a kid, so it’s even more fun to play against my former favorite team.”
• Booker had plenty of support; Detroit kept up the pace in the first half, but as the game progressed the visitors continued to pull away. JaVale McGee, also from Michigan, and Cameron Payne, who both had 20 points coming off the bench, also helped. Phoenix had two quarters of 39 points each, scoring over 58 percent from the field as a team.
• The Pistons couldn’t quite keep up, especially since they lost Cade Cunningham, who had been good until then, in the third quarter. The No.1 pick stood at 21 points (9/15 FG), when he conceded his second technical foul of the game for pointing at Booker after a reverse dunk, who previously dubbed for Phoenix in attack. Too hard, as (not only) Pistons coach Dwane Casey found.
• “I guess they thought he was pointing at the person he was dunk about. I’ve definitely seen worse things that went unpunished,” Casey said. The Pistons’ top scorer alongside Cade was Cory Joseph with 21 points, Trey Lyles had 18. Josh Jackson also conceded an ejection in the fourth quarter.
• Curious about the Pistons: They have a positive record in January (5-4) – but each of the four losses came by at least 27 points.