Miami (AFP) – The Detroit Pistons won their seventh straight game in the NBA with in-form Cade Cunningham making 32 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a 106-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday. The Pistons, who are in the playoff positions, moved to 32-26, which is their best record at this stage of a season for 17 years.
It was an all-round effort from Detroit with Tobias Harris adding 20 points and Jalen Duren making 19 rebounds along with his 12 points. It was a tight contest until Detroit pulled away late in the third quarter to tie their longest winning streak since the 2014-15 season. The Clippers (31-26) got within five points late in the game, but Cunningham made a pair of free throws and then drained a three-pointer to secure the win.
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Detroit’s push for a playoff spot comes after they finished with the worst regular season record in the NBA for the past two seasons. Last season, Detroit lost 28 games in a row, the longest single-season losing streak and tied for the longest losing run overall in NBA history. Much of the credit for the turnaround in form goes to Cunningham, whose coach J.B. Bickerstaff was full of praise for the 23-year-old.
“You talk about leadership, you talk about understanding the moment and what that was going to push the rest of the group to do. When the guys see him diving on the floor, no one is going to see a loose ball on the floor and not make the effort,” he said. “I’ve been amazed by his understanding and his recognition of the moment and his impact on each and every moment. I’ll say it and say it and say it, but we could not be more fortunate than to have a guy like him here leading the show,” he added.
Western Conference leaders, the Oklahoma City Thunder, suffered a 131-128 overtime loss at home to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who fought back brilliantly from 25 points down for the victory. Jaden McDaniels top scored for Minnesota with 27 points while adding 11 rebounds and four assists; Naz Reid added 22 points and 11 rebounds. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 39 points with 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Thunder, with Jalen Williams adding 27 points.
The Timberwolves erased a 22-point Oklahoma City lead in the fourth; they were still 121-105 down with 3:41 left to force the game into overtime. A frantic overtime ended with Gilgeous-Alexander missing just before the buzzer as Minnesota held on for a remarkable victory, which tied the franchise’s biggest comeback win. “One possession at a time, we didn’t worry about what the score was, we just kept chipping away, it is a team game and everyone came through together,” said Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
Nikola Jokic’s career-best 19 assists helped the Denver Nuggets, second in the Western Conference, beat the Indiana Pacers 125-116. The Serbian put up 18 points and claimed 9 rebounds for Denver, with Aaron Gordon scoring 25 points and Michael Porter Jr. chipping in with 19 points. The Nuggets dominated the first half, leading 64-58 at the break as they bounced back from Saturday’s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. “We knew this road trip was going to be a challenge and to respond to a tough home loss to the Lakers and start this road trip off with a win speaks a lot about our guys’ understanding of what time of the year it is and handling their business,” said head coach Michael Malone.
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