Marcus Sasser poured in a career-high 27 points as the host Detroit Pistons took a big early lead and downed the San Antonio Spurs 122-96 on Tuesday night.
Tobias Harris supplied 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson tossed in 14 points apiece. Duren also had seven of the Pistons’ 33 assists. Malik Beasley added 13 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. had 12.
Detroit All-Star Cade Cunningham missed his second straight game with a left calf contusion. The Pistons (41-32) defeated New Orleans without him on Sunday and had little trouble disposing of the Spurs.
Detroit shot 56.4 percent from the field to San Antonio’s 36.3 percent.
Devin Vassell led the Spurs (31-40) with 26 points and six rebounds. Stephon Castle supplied 19 points, Sandro Mamukelashvili added 11 and Keldon Johnson had 10.
The Pistons led 30-22 after the first quarter, and Sasser sparked a 17-2 second-quarter run to stretch the lead to 47-27. Sasser had two layups and a 3-pointer during that stretch. Hardaway, who missed the previous game with an ankle sprain, knocked down a 3-pointer to finish it off.
Detroit didn’t stop there. It finished the half with a 13-3 spurt for a 60-34 halftime lead. Duren had five points during that span. Thompson started it with a 3-pointer, then assisted on a Harris long ball for the final points of the half.
San Antonio shot just 22.2 percent from the field before the break, while Detroit made 59 percent of its attempts. Thompson led the Pistons with 11 points.
Detroit increased its lead to 30 in the first minute of the second half on a layup and a dunk from Duren. The Spurs answered with a 12-3 run that included nine points from Castle.
San Antonio eventually pulled within 15 points at 77-62 on a Vassell 3-pointer. The Pistons scored the next seven points and settled for an 88-69 advantage heading into the fourth.
The Spurs were unable to mount a threat in the final 12 minutes.
–Field Level Media
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