As the Suns continue their road trip, a stop in Detroit on Wednesday to face the Pistons was also a homecoming for rookie Josh Jackson.
Growing up in Michigan, Jackson spent majority of his childhood in Detroit where most of his family and friends still reside. When Jackson hit the court on Wednesday, he knew it was going to be something special.
“I actually told myself before the game that I would try to come out and give it my all and try to help our team get a win,” Jackson said.
Although the Suns couldn’t pull away with the win, Jackson was still able to put on a show for about 80 friends and family that came to watch him play.
“It was great,” Jackson said. “I had a lot of fun playing today. It didn’t turn out how we wanted to, but it was really good to come home and play in front of my family and friends.”
The rookie scored a career-high 20 points while tying another career-high with seven rebounds.
“Him coming back home, maybe he was excited about showing what he could do,” Head Coach Jay Triano said. “He was active and athletic and I liked some of the decisions he made to make passes as well. It’s a part of his growth. Not playing many minutes last night, I expected him to step up tonight and he did.”
Josh Jackson Scores Career-High vs Pistons
The Suns fell to the Pistons 131-107, but Triano said much of the learning from this game would come from the Pistons play, especially their off-ball movement on offense.
“We have a list of everybody that we play. We try to steal one thing from each team,” Triano said. “We think that’s going to help us grow as an organization and as a franchise. If we can one of those things from this game, we are going to keep doing that.”
The Suns take the next couple of days off as they gear up for their early Saturday matchup in Boston against the Celtics. Catch the action on Fox Sports Arizona.