Tim Hardaway Jr. scored a season-high 27 points and the host Detroit Pistons held off the Toronto Raptors 123-114 on Saturday night.
Hardaway made all but one of his eight 3-point attempts. Cade Cunningham notched a triple-double with 22 points, 17 assists and 10 rebounds as the Pistons won for the sixth time in seven games.
Malik Beasley had 18 points off the bench while Tobias Harris supplied 17 points and seven rebounds in the win. Jalen Duren added 10 points and nine rebounds.
Immanuel Quickley led seven Raptors in double figures with 25 points. Scottie Barnes had 16 points and 12 rebounds while reserves Bruce Brown and Chris Boucher added 14 points apiece. Toronto has lost five straight.
Detroit has won the first three games of the four-game season series.
The Pistons led by as many as 13 in the first quarter but Boucher sparked the Raptors, scoring 14 points in six minutes to tie it at 32-apiece at the end of the period. Toronto emerged from the half with a 66-65 lead.
Quickley had 15 points prior to the break, while Gradey Dick scored 10 for the Raptors. The Pistons had four players reach double digits by halftime, led by Hardaway with 16 and Harris with 13.
The game remained close throughout the third quarter. Ron Holland’s 3-pointer gave Detroit a seven-point edge at 89-82 with 3:23 left in the quarter.
After the Raptors pulled within three points, a Marcus Sasser basket and Simone Fontecchio 3-pointer stretched the Pistons’ lead to eight. Brown’s layup just before the buzzer made it 99-93.
The Raptors scored the first seven points of the fourth to take the lead. Barnes had a three-point play during that stretch. Detroit answered with a 7-0 run of its own, capped by a Cunningham 3-pointer to make it 106-100 with 8:23 left.
A Beasley 3-pointer gave the Pistons a 109-104 advantage before Quickley scored the next five points to tie it with 5:04 left.
Baskets by Harris, Cunningham and Duren allowed the Pistons to gain a 115-109 lead. After a couple of Quickley free throws, Beasley knocked down a 3-pointer to make 118-111 with two minutes to play and the Raptors couldn’t muster another run.
–Field Level Media
