Jaden Ivey had 26 points and the host Detroit Pistons surprised the Los Angeles Lakers, 115-103, on Monday night.
Cade Cunningham notched a triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
Tim Hardaway Jr. supplied 19 points for Detroit, which had lost its last seven meetings with the Lakers. The Pistons’ last victory in the series came on Jan. 28, 2021.
Tobias Harris had 15 points and seven rebounds, Ron Holland added 12 points and Jalen Duren chipped in 11 with 14 rebounds.
Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 37 points and nine rebounds. LeBron James had 20 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists. Austin Reaves added 17 points.
The Pistons finished the first quarter on a 12-2 run to gain a 33-22 lead.
Detroit’s advantage never dropped below nine points in the second quarter. The Pistons’ lead grew to 17, 58-41, with 4:32 left in the half when Duren had a putback dunk on a missed Cunningham free throw.
Hardaway’s midrange shot with 2:57 remaining gave Detroit a 20-point advantage, 62-42. James scored eight points in the last two minutes of the half to pull the Lakers within 14 at 67-53.
Duren scored the first points of the second half on an alley-oop dunk off a Cunningham feed. Cunningham then set up Hardaway for a 3-pointer.
Cunningham’s layup with 5:22 left in the quarter made it 81-63. The Lakers then mounted their comeback, outscoring the Pistons 14-2 the remainder of the quarter. Davis had four points and two assists during that stretch.
Detroit nudged the lead to 10 on dunks by Ivey and Harris to open the fourth quarter. Davis’ three-point play with 9:22 left cut Detroit’s lead to 91-83.
Los Angeles soon came within seven points but Holland’s layup midway through the quarter handed Detroit a 101-90 lead. Davis scored all of his team’s points during an 8-2 Lakers spurt to cut the Pistons’ lead to five.
That’s as close as they’d get. Ivey drained a 3-pointer with 1:36 remaining to make it 109-100. Ivey added another bucket to stretch the Pistons’ lead to 11.
–Field Level Media
