Cade Cunningham had 25 points and 10 assists as the host Detroit Pistons overcame a career high from Zach LaVine and defeated the Chicago Bulls 118-102 in their home opener on Saturday night.
Jalen Duren supplied 23 points, 15 rebounds and five assists as Detroit snapped its 15-game losing streak against the Bulls. Alec Burks contributed 18 points off the bench, Isaiah Stewart added 14 points and nine rebounds and Marvin Bagley III tossed in 11 points.
LaVine scored 51 points as he knocked down 19 of 33 field-goal attempts and 6 of 8 free throws. DeMar DeRozan had 20 points and Nikola Vucevic chipped in 12.
The Pistons shot 60.5 percent from the field before halftime to take a 57-44 lead. Cunningham, Bagley and Burks each had nine points, while LaVine led the Bulls with 19.
LaVine scored the first six points of the second half. LaVine reached the 30-point mark with a layup to make it 62-57.
Chicago got as close as three, but Cunningham scored seven points in a span of 1:11 to keep the Bulls at bay. Jaden Ivey hit a 3-pointer as the third period ended to give his club an 84-77 advantage.
Burks drained a 3-pointer with 10:59 left in the game to give Detroit a 13-point lead. LaVine answered with a 3-pointer to surpass the 40-point mark.
A dunk gave LaVine 49 points and cut the Pistons’ lead to 95-89. Some solid rebounding by Duren prevented the Bulls from getting closer. He had a pair of putbacks, then grabbed another rebound that led to a Stewart layup and a 105-91 lead.
LaVine surpassed the 50-point mark with 4:28 remaining on a layup. DeRozan made a jumper to cut the Pistons’ lead to 10, 109-99.
Detroit then scored the next nine points. Cunningham converted a reverse layup, Stewart made a baseline jumper with the shot clock about to expire and Duren dropped in an alley-oop dunk off an Ausar Thompson feed. Killian Hayes added a 3-pointer off Cunningham’s 10th assist.
–Field Level Media
