DETROIT (AP) — CJ McCollum scored 27 points, making the tiebreaking three-point play in overtime, and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Detroit Pistons 130-129 on Wednesday night.
Jalen Johnson also had 27 points and came close to another triple-double, finishing with 12 assists and eight rebounds.
The surging Hawks improved to 15-2 since the All-Star break, best in the Eastern Conference, and snapped Detroit's four-game winning streak.
Jalen Duren had 26 points
and 14 rebounds for the Pistons, who lost for the first time since All-Star Cade Cunningham sustained a collapsed left lung. Tobias Harris scored 22 points and Daniss Jenkins had 19 points and 10 assists for the East leaders.
Atlanta had a 21-point lead in the first half that Detroit wiped away quickly in the third quarter. McCollum scored the Hawks' final 11 points of regulation, including a three-point play that gave them a 121-116 lead with 44 seconds remaining. But Detroit rallied again and he missed a jumper that would have won it on the final possession.
He got another chance in OT and his three-point play made it 126-123. The Pistons had a chance to win it, but Harris missed a jumper and Duren was short on a follow shot.
The Hawks scored 11 straight points to extend a six-point lead to 56-39 midway through the second quarter, then had an 11-2 spurt just before the half to make it 73-52. The Pistons then scored the first 16 points of the third quarter, trimming Atlanta's 73-55 halftime advantage to 73-71.
Atlanta avoided a four-game sweep in the season series. The Pistons had a season-high 142 points in December in the last meeting, but the Hawks are the hottest team in the East now while surging into sixth place entering play Wednesday.
Hawks: Visit Boston on Friday.
Pistons: Host New Orleans on Thursday.
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