TORONTO, MARCH 4 (BUS): Kid Cunningham scored 22 points and 12 rebounds, Jeramy Grant scored 26 points and the Detroit Pistons beat Toronto 108-106 Thursday night for their sixth straight win over the Raptors.
Sadiq Bey scored 23 points, Hamidou Diallo 11 and Isaiah Stewart added 10 as the Pistons gave coach Duane Kesey their ninth win in 12 games against the team that sent them off in May 2018.
Detroit swept the season series from Toronto for the second year in a row, the first time the Pistons have done so. Detroit has won four out of six after its previous eight losses, according to the Associated Press.
The pistons are 7-26 on the road. Three of those victories have come in their past four games on the road, including wins in Boston and Charlotte.
Scotty Barnes scored 21 points and acquired 10 rebounds, Pascal Siakam 28 points, Precious Uchiwa 18 and Gary Trent Jr. 14 for the Raptors, who lost three out of five.
Raptors All-Star goalkeeper Fred Vanfleet sat out for the fourth time in six games with a right knee injury, striker OG Anunoby missed his fifth game in a row with a broken right finger, and striker Thad Young is out of a non-COVID-19 illness.
Toronto slipped 91-79 through three quarters but closed the gap in the fourth. Achiuwa’s triple pointer with 1:26 left made it 106-102, and after a missed shot by Bey, Siakam’s driving shot made it 106-104.
After a timeout, Cunningham fouled 3 and Achiwa fouled, but he only made a second free throw, reducing the difference to one. At the other end, Bey’s driving shot gave Detroit an advantage of 108-105 by 14.2 seconds.
Cunningham stopped Trent’s shot and Barnes came within short 3 but Ochiwa was fouled on goal, and went to the line 0.7 seconds before play. He made the first but missed the second as time ran out.
Toronto shot 7 for 26 out of 3 points. The Raptors went 7 for 23 from a long distance in Tuesday’s home win over Brooklyn.
Cunningham scored 10 points in the first quarter and Detroit was 5 of 11 out of a 3-point range to lead 31-22 by one. Grant scored nine points per second, but Barnes scored eight for the Raptors, who trailed 60-57 in the first half.
Grant and Cunningham both had eight points in third as Detroit beat Toronto 31-20 to advance 91-77 for fourth.
Raptors coach Nick Norse was sent off with 2:27 left in the third game after making two technical errors for protesting a wrong attack on goalkeeper Dalano Banton.
Toronto outperformed Detroit 34-20 after the nurse was fired, but that wasn’t enough.
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