Bey’s late surge helps Pistons topple 76ers
DETROIT – Saddiq Bey scored 10 of his 20 points in the final 4:23 as the Detroit Pistons pulled away down the stretch and beat the Philadelphia 76ers 102-94 on Thursday night.
Cade Cunningham scored 27 points for Detroit, which snapped a threegame losing streak and had a 39-8 edge in scoring off the bench.
Joel Embiid had 37 points and 15 rebounds and James Harden finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the 76ers.
Detroit didn’t lead until the fourth quarter, and Isaiah Livers’ 3-pointer with 5:05 left gave the Pistons a 90-87 advantage. After Harden missed, Bey made it 93-87 with another 3-pointer, forcing Sixers coach Doc Rivers to call a timeout.
Embiid answered with a dunk, but Bey scored seven points in a 9-0 run that gave the Pistons a 102-89 lead with 1:54 to play.
Embiid had 18 points and nine rebounds in the first half, going 10 for 11 from the line. Philadelphia attempted 20 free throws in the half compared to four for Detroit. But the Pistons’ 21-0 advantage in bench points kept them within 54-50.
Hawks 131, Cavaliers 107: Trae Young scored 30 points and surging Atlanta never trailed while beating shorthanded Cleveland at home to clinch a spot in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament.
Cedi Osman led Cleveland with 21 points. Darius Garland had 18 points and eight assists while sitting out the final quarter of the blowout loss.
Cavaliers standout rookie Evan Mobley missed his second consecutive game with a sprained ankle. Cleveland has lost two straight and five of six as it attempts to keep the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference.
Young had nine assists as the Hawks’ fourth consecutive win clinched no worse than the No. 10 spot in the Eastern Conference and a berth in the play-in tournament.
Kevin Huerter continued his strong finish to the regular season with 23 points, his fourth consecutive game with at least 20 points. Clint Capela added 12 points with 14 rebounds.
Giannis Antetokounmpo passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become Milwaukee’s career scoring leader on a 3-pointer that forced overtime, and then made two free throws in the final seconds to give the Bucks a over host Brooklyn.
The defending NBA champions clinched a return to the postseason with the win, in which Antetokounmpo had 44 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. Jrue Holiday added 19 points and Khris Middleton had 16 before being ejected for a flagrant foul midway through the third quarter.
Kevin Durant had 26 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for the Nets, but missed a 3-pointer that would have won it. Kyrie Irving scored 25 points and Bruce Brown had 23.