Cade Cunningham Scores 30 as the Pistons Rally Past the Hornets 97-89, Outscoring Charlotte 53-38 After Halftime
Detroit was down seven at halftime and missing its All-Star center. Cunningham fixed both problems in one half: 30 points, seven assists and two late threes that closed a 97-89 win over a Charlotte team that got 31 from Brandon Miller and almost nothing else.
One night after their first loss of the season, the Detroit Pistons answered it the hard way. Trailing the Charlotte Hornets 51-44 at halftime at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday, Detroit outscored Charlotte 53-38 in the second half to win 97-89 and improve to 4-1 - a bounce-back from Tuesday's 111-97 loss at New York, built on defense, balance and their franchise player's closing hand.
Cade Cunningham scored 30 points with seven assists, shooting 10-for-22 from the field and 4-of-9 from three, and he scored 10 of them in the fourth quarter - including the two late three-pointers that iced it, the second falling with 30.5 seconds left to make it a three-possession game. Around him, the replacement frontcourt held: Paul Reed, starting with All-Star center Jalen Duren out a third straight game with a right hamstring strain, scored 16 points; reserve Daniss Jenkins added 14 and Duncan Robinson 13; Ausar Thompson filled the sheet with seven points, nine rebounds, eight assists and a block. Detroit shot 51.2 percent overall and 42.9 percent from three in the second-half surge, taking the third quarter 32-19.
Charlotte's night was one player's. Brandon Miller scored 31 points with 12 rebounds - his third consecutive game at 30 or more - but managed only four points across the final 15 minutes as Detroit's defense finally loaded up on him, and Dennis Schroder, at 14 points, was the only other Hornet in double figures. The Hornets, who remained without their starting backcourt of Coby White and Kon Knueppel, also gave the ball away 25 times against Detroit's 14 - the stat that kept breaking their runs.
The standings line is early but real: Detroit at 4-1 with a defense that travels, Charlotte at 3-2 still waiting on its guards. Duren remains out at least another 10 days, the Free Press reported, and Isaiah Joe missed his second straight game with a right hip contusion - which makes the Pistons' start, and Cunningham's hand in it, the more notable.
