Powered by their dynamic duo of Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, the Detroit Pistons will head to Philadelphia to face the 76ers on Sunday night riding a five-game winning streak and holding the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Cunningham is averaging 25.6 points and 9.7 assists a game, and Duren 19.2 points and 11.3 rebounds
Both were at their best in Detroit’s 125-107 NBA Cup group win on the road against the Brooklyn Nets on Friday.
Cunningham paired a season-best 34 points with 10 assists, while Duren posted 30 points and 11 rebounds.
“It’s tough to guard — they’ve proven that,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of the combo. “The chemistry that they’ve developed, the skill set of both of them, both of their ability to playmake, both of their ability to score … I think they do a great job of reading the defense and finding gaps.”
Duren’s play this season drew high praise from Cunningham.
“He’s dominant. He’s attacking every game,” the point guard said. “Really, enough credit can’t be said about how he approaches the game lately. He has all the ability in the world to do what he’s been doing. It’s exciting.”
Meanwhile, Duren said he believes Cunningham has no backcourt peer across the NBA. And in his view, it isn’t close.
“That’s what he does,” the 6-foot-10 center said of Cunningham’s stellar performance in Brooklyn. “If you’re surprised, then you must not be watching. Like I’ve been saying, he’s the best guard in the league by far. Watch the game. … He does everything. His game speaks for itself, and he’s going to be the one who leads us further on as we continue our journey.”
Pistons forward Isaiah Stewart sprained his left ankle in the second quarter against Brooklyn and could be unavailable against the Sixers, who climbed to third position in the East after beating the visiting Toronto Raptors 130-120 on Saturday.
Tyrese Maxey, who is averaging 33.2 points per game, had 31 points and seven assists for Philadelphia, and Joel Embiid tallied 29 points in 26 minutes.
Trendon Watford celebrated his first start of the season by compiling 20 points and career highs of 17 rebounds and 10 assists for his first career triple-double.
Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse lauded Watford’s ability to contribute in different areas.
“The biggest thing is T-Wat can bring it up as well, but he’s also a good post feeder,” Nurse said. “We can play some stuff through him, and we punched it into Joel for the first time in many moons. That was good, and a lot of that is because T-Wat can find those angles. He’s got a lot to his game.”
“He can post, he can drive, he can pass, and evidently he can rebound,” Nurse continued. “Tyrese said he couldn’t rebound, but he did (Saturday).”
The 76ers will be without Paul George (left knee surgery recovery) and Dominick Barlow (right elbow laceration) against Detroit, while Embiid is doubtful considering it will be the second leg of a back-to-back set.