CHARLOTTE — The Detroit Pistons entered their road game against the Charlotte Hornets with rare momentum. They were coming off of two straight wins — their first winning streak in 10 months — and defeated the Milwaukee Bucks on the road by nine points on Monday.
The Pistons caught the Hornets on a hot night. Charlotte shot 59.3% overall and 57.1% from 3 — a staggering 24-for-42 — en route to blowing out the Pistons, 140-111. Kelly Oubre was the player of the night for the Hornets, scoring 24 of his game-high 32 points in a scorching fourth quarter that saw him knock down eight of nine 3-point attempts.
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Trey Lyles led the Pistons with 17 points and seven rebounds, and Cade Cunningham added 16 points and seven assists. Josh Jackson scored 15 points. Michigan State alumnus and Flint native Miles Bridges scored 19 points for Charlotte.
Hornets’ hot shooting dooms Pistons
Charlotte seemingly couldn’t miss Wednesda, putting the Pistons away with a dominant first quarter. The Hornets led 37-19 after the opening period, and knocked down 13 of their 22 shots and seven of 11 3-pointers. And those numbers include the Hornets cooling off following an even hotter start.
The Hornets made 12 of their first 15 shots and seven of their first nine 3s. A 3-pointer by P.J. Washington with 2:39 to play in the quarter extended their lead to 14, 33-19. Back-to-back 3’s by Cody Martin and Washington pushed the lead to 26 early in the 2nd.
A 3-pointer by Cunningham cut the deficit to 13 with 4:20 left in the third quarter. That’s as close as the Pistons would get, as Charlotte used an 18-0 run to put the game away for good. Back-to-back 3s by Oubre at the beginning of the fourth quarter pushed the Hornets’ lead to 31,106-75.
Pistons get long look at Potter, Robinson
Wednesday marked eight days since the Pistons signed Micah Potter and Justin Robinson to 10-day deals. On the first night of a back-to-back, they gave the two G League players extended minutes.
Potter, a big man for the Sioux Falls Skyforce, played 16 minutes and finished with eight points and six rebounds. Robinson, who played the entire fourth quarter during Monday’s winBucks, played 25 minutes, scored nine points on 3-for-9 shooting and finished the entire fourth quarter once again.
Both players started the second quarter. Potter played the first four minutes of the period, and Robinson played the first six. During that stretch, the Pistons went on a 13-2 run to cut the deficit to 15.
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa. The Free Press has started a new digital subscription model. Here’s how you can gain access to our most exclusive Pistons content. Read more on the Detroit Pistons and sign up for our Pistons newsletter.