PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Cade Cunningham scored 26 points, and John Collins had 16 points and 11 rebounds to help the Detroit Pistons stay unbeaten with a 106-93 win over LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night.
The Pistons improved to 3-0 in their first game without All-Star center Jalen Duren, who will miss at least two weeks with a strained right hamstring. Duren was injured in the first half of Detroit’s win over Miami on Friday.
The
Pistons led wire-to-wire against a Sixers team playing on the second night of a back-to-back and missing starters Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe. Embiid sat out for rest a night after he had a triple-double against Milwaukee. VJ Edgecombe missed the game with an abdominal contusion.
Tyrese Maxey led the Sixers with 29 points and James had 18. The Sixers lost for the first time after opening with three straight wins.
One of those wins included a 29-point comeback against Cleveland that perhaps gave the Sixers and their fans belief they could rally again when the Pistons led by 21 in the first half.
Unlike their rally against Cleveland, the Sixers hit a string of baskets to make it a game but never took the lead.
The 41-year-old James, back in the lineup after he sat out against the Bucks to rest his back, powered his way to three straight layups as part of a 9-0 run that helped the Sixers cut it to 56-44 at halftime. After they pull within five, Cunningham hit two straight 3-pointers that pushed the lead back to nine points and the Pistons were ahead by 10 at the end of the quarter.
Duncan Robinson hit a 3 in the fourth — he made five of Detroit's 14 3s — that sucked the air out of another Sixers run that had closed the gap to four points.
The Pistons opened the game on a 15-1 run and extended it to 56-35 in the second quarter.
Detroit: Plays Tuesday at New York.
Philadelphia: Play Wednesday at Indiana.
___
See AP’s full NBA coverage here
