Pistons clinch top seed in East with convincing win over 76ers
Tobias Harris scored 19 points and Daniss Jenkins contributed 16 points and 14 assists as the Detroit Pistons clinched the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 116-93 road win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday.
Jalen Duren chipped in with 16 points for Detroit (57-21), which will have home-court advantage in the East for the first time since 2007. The Pistons improved to 8-2 since Cade Cunningham suffered a collapsed lung, although the team's star guard is expected to return late in the regular season.
Philadelphia (43-35), which entered with eight wins in its last 11 games, shot just 34.2% in the second half and managed only 33 points after intermission. Tyrese Maxey (23 points) and Paul George (20) were the top scorers for the Sixers, who played without Joel Embiid in the second half of a back-to-back.
Nine different players scored for Detroit in the first quarter as the visitors led 41-31 after 12 minutes. The Pistons' bench fueled a 10-4 run to close the period, as Marcus Sasser, Paul Reed and Caris LeVert accounted for all Detroit's points during that stretch.
Philadelphia dominated early in the second quarter, eventually tying the game at 52-all on VJ Edgecombe's 3-pointer near the midpoint of the period.
The score was tied again a couple of minutes later when the Pistons embarked on a 15-4 run to close the quarter. Duncan Robinson drained two 3-pointers during that push, while Jenkins had one of his own.
George led all scorers with 18 first-half points. However, he only scored two points in the third quarter as the Sixers recorded nearly as many turnovers (seven) as buckets (eight) in the quarter.
Detroit didn't light it up in the third either, shooting just 8 of 24 from the field, but the Pistons still carried a 95-81 lead into the fourth.
The Sixers briefly got within 12 in the final period before Kevin Huerter's 3-pointer sent the momentum in the other direction. The hosts went nearly five minutes without a point as Detroit extended its lead to 104-83 on Harris' bucket with 5:28 remaining.
The Pistons outrebounded the hosts, 45-33 and outscored them, 21-11, on second-chance opportunities.