Cade Cunningham scored 18 of his 28 points in the second quarter Wednesday night and the visiting Detroit Pistons defeated the Toronto Raptors 113-95.
Cunningham, who hit 6 of 11 3-point attempts, added seven rebounds, nine assists and three steals for the Pistons, who have won three straight and eight of their last 10.
The Pistons never trailed as Paul Reed added 22 points and four blocked shots and Tobias Harris had 12 points and 12 rebounds. Duncan Robinson posted 13 points.
Immanuel Quickley scored 18 points for the Raptors, who ended a 3-2 homestand. Scottie Barnes scored 17, RJ Barrett had 16, Brandon Ingram added 13 and Gradey Dick chipped in 10.
Toronto’s Jakob Poeltl played for the first time since Dec. 21 after being out with a strained back and scored nine points with six rebounds.
Detroit led by 23 in the third quarter and took a 20-point advantage into the fourth. Toronto tried to nibble at the lead but was still down by 17 with 5:46 to play when Ingram hit a 3-pointer.
Reed scored 16 points in the first quarter to help the Pistons to a 29-19 lead. Toronto crept to within six early in the second quarter but Detroit responded with strong defense and opened a 13-point lead when Robinson nailed a 3-pointer with 8:35 remaining.
Detroit missed seven straight field-goal attempts and Toronto again trimmed the deficit to six with 4:45 left. The Pistons dug in and reeled off 11 straight points capped by Robinson’s corner 3-pointer to lead by 17 with 2:00 left. Detroit led 67-52 at halftime.
Cunningham scored the first five points of the third quarter to bump the margin to 20. The Raptors were down by 14 with 7:38 remaining. The Pistons’ defense again prevailed when Reed’s steal set up Harris’ running layup for an 18-point lead with 4:31 remaining. Caris LeVert hit consecutive 3-pointers to give Detroit a 23-point lead with 2:05 left.
Detroit led 94-74 after three quarters.
Detroit’s Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart did not play because of suspensions resulting from a fight against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday. Stewart received a seven-game ban, while Duren was hit with a two-game suspension.
Toronto’s Collin Murray-Boyles (thumb) also sat out.
–Field Level Media
