The China Mail - Detroit win streak hits 13, Raptors take eighth in a row

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 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.

"I thought Brendon also did a great job defensively. He was rebounding the ball well. He was in right spots, getting deflections. He's going both ways on the floor and really helping us to get wins."

- Knicks, Heat win -

At Brooklyn, New York's Karl-Anthony Towns delivered 37 points and 12 rebounds while Jalen Brunson added 27 points to power the Knicks over the host Nets 113-100, despite 31 points by Brooklyn's Noah Clowney.

Tyler Herro scored 24 points and Kel'el Ware added 20 points and 18 rebounds to ignite Miami in a 106-102 home triumph over Dallas, which boosted the Heat to 12-6 with their fifth win in a row.

Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic had a triple-double with 17 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds to spark the Denver Nuggets to a 125-115 victory at Memphis.

The Serbian center leads the NBA in assists and rebounds and ranks sixth in scoring.

The Nuggets (13-4) had 29 points from Jamal Murray and 27 from Peyton Watson in capturing their 10th win in 12 games.

Portland, led by Jerami Grant's 35 points, defeated host Milwaukee 115-103 while Zion Williamson had 29 points to lead eight double-figure scorers for New Orleans in a 143-130 victory over visiting Chicago.

The Houston Rockets, with Kevin Durant absent for personal reasons, rose to 11-4 with a 114-92 victory at Phoenix.

Amen Thompson had 28 points, seven rebounds and eight assists to lead the Rockets, who snapped Phoenix's three-game win streak.

C.Fong--ThChM