The Detroit Pistons will look to win consecutive games for just the second time this season when they visit the reeling Washington Wizards on Sunday.
The Pistons opened their three-game road trip with a 127-120 overtime loss in Milwaukee on Wednesday. They bounced back two nights later and posted their fifth win in eight games with a 99-95 victory over the Toronto Raptors.
Starting in place of injured Tim Hardaway Jr. (head), Malik Beasley drained four of his team’s eight 3-pointers to highlight his 20-point performance Friday.
Cade Cunningham collected 15 points and 10 assists for his sixth double-double of the season, and Jaden Ivey added 14 points in his return from a one-game absence due to a toe injury.
While Detroit featured six players scoring in double figures, Cunningham was quick to credit Wendell Moore Jr. and Marcus Sasser for their contributions off the bench. Moore recorded eight points and six rebounds, and Sasser had six and five, respectively.
“His approach, he’s been the same every day,” Cunningham said of Moore, who was acquired in a four-team trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves on July 6.
“Just waited on his opportunity. We’re all super happy for him. Plus-18 is crazy. That’s what won us the game, him and (Sasser). They brought energy for us.”
Moore noted that he’s seeing good things with the improving Pistons.
“It actually reminds me a lot of Minnesota, because when I got there, we were just on the up-and-coming, too,” he said, per the Detroit Free Press. “So we’re doing a great thing here. Hopefully I’m able to bring a little experience. I haven’t played a lot, but I’ve been around a lot of winning just throughout my career in basketball. It’s been a smooth transition. All the guys, I’ve known them growing up playing with them. so it made it easy coming here. It’s a lot of fun playing with this group.”
Mired in a seven-game skid, the Wizards haven’t been having much fun of late.
Kyle Kuzma collected 24 points and nine rebounds in Washington’s 129-117 loss to the host Atlanta Hawks on Friday. Kuzma, however, was left to lament a lot of missed opportunities.
“I had good rhythm today. Just missed a couple layups,” said Kuzma, who shot 11-for-28 from the floor and 2-for-11 from 3-point range.
“Make a couple layups and you’re at 50 percent, then nobody talks about it. It doesn’t really matter, you know?”
Rookie Alexandre Sarr added 20 points on Friday while making 7 of 13 shots from the floor, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range.
Sarr, the No. 2 overall pick of the 2024 NBA Draft, shut out the jeers from the vocal crowd in Atlanta by adding four steals and three blocks.
“It’s pretty funny to me,” Sarr said of the crowd’s reaction while playing his second game in Atlanta. “So I love playing here.”
The teams split their four-game season series in 2023-24, with the road club winning each time.
–Field Level Media
