Pistons keep rolling; Raptors roar past Cavs

NEW YORK (AFP) — Cade Cunningham scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to spark the Detroit Pistons to their franchise record-tying 13th consecutive victory, a 122-117 triumph at Indiana on Monday.

The Eastern Conference leaders improved to 15-2 and matched the longest win streaks in Pistons history, 13 in a row in the 2003-04 and 1989-90 seasons — both campaigns in which they won the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals.

“It’s amazing,” Cunningham said.

“We play for the Detroit Pistons, a historic franchise. To be able to make history for a historic franchise like this is special.”

Cunningham, who added six assists, saw his run of six consecutive 25-point and 10-assist games ended.

But Caris LeVert added 19 points off the bench and Jalen Duren had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Detroit.

Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin missed a potential tying three-pointer with 11 seconds remaining and LeVert added two free throws to seal the Pacers’ fate.

At Toronto, Brandon Ingram scored a season-high 37 points while Scottie Barnes had 18 points and 11 rebounds as the host Raptors boosted their win streak to eight games by defeating Cleveland, 110-99.

Toronto, on the team’s longest win streak since the 2019-20 campaign, improved to 13-5, second in the East, while Cleveland fell to 12-7 as their three-game win streak ended.

“Brandon did a great job,” said Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic.

“He was obviously hot. We did a good job of finding him. He did a great job of getting to his spots and then getting good looks.”