Pistons' D.J. Augustin Records Career-High 35 Points in Loss

Making just his fourth start of the 2014-15 season, Detroit Pistons guard D.J. Augustin recorded a career-high 35 points in Sunday's 114-110 loss to the Toronto Raptors, per Brendan Savage of MLive.com.

Augustin's insertion into the starting lineup was the result of some unfortunate news for the Pistons, as starting point guard Brandon Jennings was recently ruled out for the remainder of the season due to a torn Achilles tendon.

While Jennings' loss is clearly a big one for the rejuvenated Pistons, Augustin has seen more playing time than your average backup point guard this season, with Jennings averaging a modest 28.6 minutes per game.

After logging 37 minutes Sunday night, Augustin is averaging 21.8 per game, with at least 13 minutes played in each of Detroit's 45 contests.

Per Basketball-Reference.com's play index, Augustin had just two 30-point performances in his career entering Sunday's game, having scored 33 in a game for the Chicago Bulls last season and 31 in a game for the Charlotte Bobcats in 2010-11.

In arguably the finest performance of his seven-year career, Augustin made 12 of his 20 field-goal attempts Sunday night, including five of his nine attempts from three-point range. He also made all eight of his free-throw attempts, adding four rebounds and eight assists with just two turnovers for good measure.

Now that he's Detroit's starting point guard, Augustin should rapidly improve upon his season-long averages of nine points, 1.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists.

Getting Detroit into the playoffs will likely be a tougher task, as the Pistons' recent improvement seems to have tailed off a bit, with the team losing three of its last four games.

Owners of a 17-28 record, the Pistons are two games behind the Charlotte Hornets in the race for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.