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.
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.
This skid could go on for 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.
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.
Washington had 17 turnovers compared to Detroit’s nine, and the Pistons had a 27-11 edge in points off turnovers.
Both teams play again on Monday night. Detroit hosts the Chicago Bulls, while Washington plays at New York.
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