DETROIT (AP) — Zach LaVine scored 16 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and the Chicago Bulls pulled away for a 122-112 win against the Detroit Pistons on Monday night.

The game was tied at 95 with 8:46 left, but LaVine had nine points in a 13-2 run that put the Bulls up by 11 with 5:45 to go. He hit six 3-pointers in the quarter after a slow start.

Nikola Vucevic led the Bulls with 29 points and 12 rebounds while Coby White scored 25.

Cade Cunningham had 26 points and 10 assists for the Pistons and Malik Beasley added 21.

Takeaways

Bulls: LaVine has traditionally given the Pistons a hard time, averaging 21.7 points in 28 career games, including a 51-point game last season. They held him to seven points on 3-for-11 shooting, including 1 for 6 on 3-pointers, in the first three quarters. He came back into the game with 8:46 left and hit five of his first six shots, all 3-pointers.

Pistons: Detroit kept the game close for the first 40 minutes, but lost too many Bulls shooters on the perimeter. Chicago shot 23-46 (50%) on 3-pointers, including 7-15 (47%) in the fourth quarter.

Key moment

Detroit was trailing 80-75 in the third when they got distracted by not getting a call on defense. Before they regained focus, Josh Giddey tipped in a missed shot, LaVine threw down an uncontested dunk and Vucevic hit a 3-pointer to make it 87-75.

Key stat

The Pistons had 16 offensive rebounds to Chicago’s 10 and only committed nine turnovers, but they only hit 34% of their 3-pointers while the Bulls were making half of theirs.

Up next

The Bulls play Wednesday in Milwaukee. The Pistons visit Charlotte on Thursday.

— By DAVE HOGG, Associated Press

By NOAH TRISTER
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Cade Cunningham had 21 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds to lead the Detroit Pistons over the Washington Wizards 124-104 on Sunday night.

Jaden Ivey scored 28 points and Malik Beasley added 26 for Detroit. Cunningham has four triple-doubles this season, two behind league leader Nikola Jokic.

It was the eighth straight loss for Washington, which was home after a five-game trip. Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma scored 22 points apiece for the Wizards.

Detroit held Washington to 18 points in the first quarter and led 65-53 at halftime. The lead was never in single digits after that, with the Pistons going on a 12-3 run to take an 85-64 advantage on a dunk by Jalen Duren.

Wizards center Alex Sarr, the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft, had four points on 1-of-7 shooting.

Takeaways

Pistons: These were the bottom two teams in the league last year, and although Washington got a higher draft pick, it’s Detroit that looks further along in its rebuild. After dropping their first four games, the Pistons (7-8) have battled back to within a game of .500.

Wizards: This skid could go on a while for Washington, which faces New York and Boston in its next two games. The Wizards ended up shooting well (12 of 27) from 3-point range, but couldn’t recover from their ragged first quarter.

Key moment

Washington began to click offensively during the second quarter and trailed 52-47 after a dunk by Bilal Coulibaly, but it was never that close again after Beasley answered with a 3-pointer.

Key stat

Washington had 17 turnovers compared to Detroit’s nine, and the Pistons had a 27-11 edge in points off turnovers.

Up next

Both teams play again Monday night. Detroit hosts the Chicago Bulls, while Washington plays at New York.

TORONTO (AP) — Malik Beasley scored seven of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, Cade Cunningham had 15 points and 10 assists and the Detroit Pistons beat the struggling Toronto Raptors 99-95 on Friday night.

Tobias Harris had 11 points and 11 rebounds, Jaden Ivey scored 14 points and Jalen Duren added 12 for the Pistons. Rookie Ron Holland had 10 points and eight rebounds for Detroit but missed all six of his 3-point attempts.

Detroit won despite shooting 8 for 38 from 3-point range. The Raptors weren’t much better and shot 8 for 31 from distance.

Jakob Poeltl had a season-high 25 points and matched his career-high with 19 rebounds, but the Raptors lost their sixth straight.

RJ Barrett scored 22 points and Gradey Dick, who shot 1 for 10 from 3, added 16 for Toronto, which has lost 10 of 11.

Takeaways

Pistons: After going winless in NBA Cup play last season, Detroit is 2-0 in the tournament after an overtime victory against Miami on Tuesday.

Raptors: Toronto dropped to 0-8 this season when trailing at the half.

Key moment

Dick missed a pair of 3-point attempts in the final 21 seconds. The first would have given Toronto a one-point edge and the second would have tied the score.

Key stat

Cunningham shot 4 for 18 through three quarters but went 2 of 3 in the fourth, including one of his two 3-pointers. He went 2 for 9 from deep.

Up next

Toronto is at Boston on Saturday, while Detroit visits Washington on Sunday.

— By IAN HARRISON, Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — Alperen Sengun scored five of his 27 points in the final 2:28 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 101-99 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.

Trailing 101-99 with six seconds left, Pistons’ guard Cade Cunningham intentionally missed a free throw and Jaden Ivey got the offensive rebound. His shot missed, but Tobias Harris was fouled on the rebound.

With a chance to tie the game with one second to go, Harris missed the first free throw. He intentionally missed the second, but Ivey fell out of bounds trying to secure the rebound.

Sengun added 10 rebounds, and Tari Eason scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter.

Cunningham had 26 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, falling just short of becoming the first Pistons player to record four straight triple-doubles.

Sengun’s putback gave the Rockets a 96-95 lead with 2:28 to play, and Jaden Ivey was called for an offensive foul on the next possession. Houston got another putback, this one a dunk from Dillon Brooks, before Sengun scored Houston’s third straight basket off an offensive rebound to make it 100-95.

Takeaways

Rockets: Houston was able to stay in the game in the first half despite shooting 18.8% (3 of 16) on 3-pointers by recording nine offensive rebounds.

Pistons: Cunningham had 14 first-half points on 5-of-10 shooting, but his teammates only managed 31 on 36.3% (12 of 33) from the floor.

Key moment

The Rockets led 84-72 with nine minutes left, but Malik Beasley hit three 3-pointers in a 16-3 run that put Detroit up 88-87 with 5:16 left.

Key stat

Houston forced seven third-quarter turnovers that led to eight points and held the Pistons to 36.8% shooting. Detroit missed all five 3-point attempts, including three by Tim Hardaway Jr.

Up next

The Rockets host the Wizards on Monday, while the Pistons host the Heat on Tuesday.

— By DAVE HOGG, Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — Jalen Brunson scored 15 of his 36 points in the first quarter as the New York Knicks beat Detroit 128-98 on Friday for their 16th straight victory over the Pistons.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for New York, which never trailed and led by at least 20 points for the final 40 minutes. OG Anunoby scored 21 points as the Knicks’ starters scored 106 points.

Cade Cunningham had 22 points for the Pistons, who fall to 1-5, and Tobias Harris added 13 points and eight rebounds.

The Knicks tripled the Pistons’ scoring in the first quarter, taking a 39-13 lead, and were never threatened.

Takeaways

Knicks: New York shot 62.5%, including 4-7 from the 3-point line, and only had one turnover in the first quarter, while the Pistons shot 28.6%, including 1-9 on 3s, and turned the ball over seven times.

Pistons: Detroit hasn’t won 25 games since the 2018-19 season, hasn’t had a winning season since 2015-16 and hasn’t won a playoff game since 2007-08.

Key moment

Brunson outscored the Pistons 15-13 in the quarter as the Knicks built their comfortable first-quarter lead.

Key stat

New York forced 22 turnovers for 30 points, while the Pistons only got 12 points from 10 Knicks turnovers.

Up next

The Pistons travel to New York to play the Nets on Sunday, and the Knicks visit the Rockets on Monday.

— By DAVE HOGG, Associated Press

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