Cunningham celebrates All-Star selection with 40 points in Pistons’ 117-102 win over Mavericks

DETROIT (AP) — Cade Cunningham scored 40 points a day after being selected as an All-Star reserve, helping the Detroit Pistons beat the Dallas Mavericks 117-102 on Thursday night.

Cunningham matched a season high for points on 17-of-30 shooting. He added six rebounds and four assists while falling three points of his career-best 43 points.

Detroit snapped a three-game losing streak. Tobias Harris added 17 points and Jalen Duren had 16 points and 13 rebounds.

Kyrie Irving led Dallas with 28 points. P.J. Washington had 22 points and 13 rebounds.

After the Mavericks cut it to 93-91 with 10:13 left, the Pistons responded with a 10-2 run with Cunningham on the bench.

Takeaways

Mavericks: Luka Doncic is still sidelined by the calf injury that has kept him out since Christmas Day. Doncic has averaged 36.1 points in eight career games against the Pistons – his highest average against any team – along with 8.5 rebounds and 9.8 assists.

Pistons: Isaiah Stewart served a one-game suspension for accumulating six flagrant-foul points. … Pistons owner Tom Gores is leading a group bidding for a WNBA expansion team. The Detroit Shock played in the WNBA from 1998-2009, winning three championships before moving to Tulsa.

Key moment

Cunningham scored eight of his 16 third-quarter points in the final 2:42 of the period, allowing the Pistons to keep an eight-point lead. He outscored his teammates 16-15 in the quarter, shooting 63.6% (7 of 11) from the floor while they were 6 of 13.

Key stats

Both teams crashed the offensive boards in the first half — Dallas got back 41.7% (10-24) of their own misses, while the Pistons were at 37.5% (9-24) — but Detroit finished with a 16-6 edge in second-chance points.

Up next

Both teams are back in action Sunday. Dallas is at Cleveland, and Detroit hosts Chicago.

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