CHICAGO (AP) — Cade Cunningham scored 26 points and the Detroit Pistons stopped a six-game losing streak with a 105-95 win over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night.
Owners of the NBA’s worst record, the Pistons bounced back from a heated loss at New York the previous night and picked up just their ninth win of the season despite big efforts by Chicago’s Nikola Vucevic, DeMar DeRozan and Andre Drummond.
Detroit went on an 12-2 run in the fourth quarter to stretch a one-point lead into a 101-90 advantage.
Simone Fontecchio scored 17, and Jaden Ivey finished with 15 points, helping the Pistons beat the Bulls for just the second time in 18 games.
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Jalen Duren added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Ausar Thompson scored 13. Isaiah Stewart finished with 11 points and nine rebounds after missing 11 games — the previous three due to a league suspension for punching Suns center Drew Eubanks at the arena hours before a game at Phoenix
Vucevic had 25 points and 10 rebounds. DeRozan scored 25.
Drummond added 20 points and 11 rebounds against his former team, but the cold-shooting Bulls lost for the third time in four games. Chicago made just 2 of 29 3-pointers.
With an 89-88 lead midway through the fourth quarter, Simone Fontecchio nailed a 3 and Cunningham made three free throws to spark the decisive run.
The Pistons continued to add to their lead after Chicago’s Coby White made two free throws.
Cunningham nailed a 3 and made a foul shot. Duren hit two free throws to make it 101-90 with 3:32 remaining, helping Detroit come out on top.
Pistons coach Monty Williams didn’t exactly back away from his comments ripping the officials following Detroit’s loss at New York on Monday.
Williams seemed to take little solace Tuesday in the crew chief acknowledging that referees missed a foul by New York’s Donte DiVincenzo. He also said he hadn’t heard from the NBA about a potential fine.
“I think I said enough last night,” Williams said. “I’m not of the mindset of creating or building up an argument against the NBA or the officials. I was talking about an isolated incident last night, and I’ll stand on what I said and what I saw after the game. As I told our guys today, we have to move past it but learn from it.”
Pistons: Host Cleveland on Friday.
Bulls: Host Cleveland on Wednesday. ___
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