Cade Cunningham notched 26 points, eight rebounds and eight assists as the visiting Detroit Pistons topped the Philadelphia 76ers 106-93 on Sunday.
Detroit improved to 3-0 despite playing without two starters, as Jalen Duren (hamstring) and Ausar Thompson (ankle) sat out the contest. That created more opportunities for Duncan Robinson (21 points), Daniss Jenkins (18 points) and John Collins (16 points, 11 rebounds).
Tyrese Maxey scored 18 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter for Philadelphia, which played without Joel Embiid (foot) and VJ Edgecombe (abdomen). LeBron James chipped in with 18 points, while Jaylen Brown had 16 on 5-of-20 shooting for the Sixers, who never led while falling to 3-1 on the young season.
The Pistons outrebounded the Sixers 54-37 and finished with 15 offensive boards which they turned into 24 second-chance points.
Trailing 56-44 at halftime, Philadelphia used a quick 9-2 run to narrow the margin to five on a layup by James. Detroit built its lead back to double figures and went on to lead 79-69 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Sixers scored the first six points in the final period to get within 79-75 on Maxey’s tough fadeaway. However, Robinson countered with a 3-pointer for the Pistons and made another jumper shortly thereafter to give Detroit a 10-point cushion with 7:38 left.
Maxey kept things interesting, but Robinson drained another 3-pointer with 5:57 remaining to restore a 10-point lead. Maxey continued to keep the Sixers afloat before Jenkins’ 3-pointer with 1:03 left essentially clinched the game.
Cunningham scored 12 first-quarter points on 5-of-6 shooting to help Detroit lead 34-22 after one period. The Pistons led 15-1 3:10 into the game, and they led by as many as 18 in the opening segment.
The visitors maintained a double-digit lead for the entirety of the second quarter. The margin increased to 21 on Cunningham’s three-point play with 1:33 left before the hosts closed the half on a 9-0 run, capped by three straight buckets by James.
Cunningham led all scorers with 15 points in the first half.
