Cunningham Scores 20 as Pistons Rout Winless Nets 110-94 in NBA Cup Opener

Cade Cunningham scored 20 points and the Detroit Pistons blew their game open in the third quarter, beating the Brooklyn Nets 110-94 on Friday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, in the NBA Cup opener for both teams.

Detroit has won five of its first six games to open the season, the first time the Pistons have started this well since 2015-16. Brooklyn fell to 0-5 and remains the Eastern Conference's lone winless team, off to a second straight 0-5 start.

The run that settled it

Reserve Ron Holland II sparked the dominant third quarter for Detroit, scoring 12 points in that quarter as the Pistons took control. Cunningham scored seven straight points for Detroit shortly before Holland helped finish the run. A 31-7 run in all allowed the Pistons to build a game-high 96-66 lead with 11:13 remaining in the fourth quarter, and the rest of the game was played out with the result settled.

Balance behind Cunningham

Cunningham led Detroit, but he did not carry the scoring alone. Duncan Robinson added 17 points and Paul Reed chipped in 12. Ausar Thompson filled the stat sheet with 11 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals. Detroit outscored Brooklyn 48-36 in the paint and held a 27-11 advantage on the fast break, which matched the way the game turned: once the Pistons started forcing mistakes, they scored before the Nets could set their defense. Detroit forced 24 turnovers and held Brooklyn to 40 percent shooting overall.

Brooklyn's short night

Moe Wagner led Brooklyn with 16 points. Julius Randle scored 15 and Michael Porter Jr. added 13, but the Nets never found a stretch of stops long enough to get back into the game after the third quarter run. A team still looking for its first win gave the ball away 24 times and lost the paint and the break by wide margins, and that combination left the fourth quarter with nothing left to decide.

The scoreline also fit the way Detroit has started the season. Five wins in six games is the club's best opening stretch since 2015-16, and this win came the way that record suggests, with defense turning into offense. Brooklyn shot 40 percent, gave the ball away 24 times, and lost both the paint battle and the fast-break battle by double figures, which is why a game that was an NBA Cup opener for both teams read as one-sided long before the final buzzer.

What happens next

Detroit visits the Charlotte Hornets on Monday. Brooklyn visits the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, still looking for its first win of the season. In Cup play, the Pistons start East group play at 1-0 with a 16-point win, a margin that matters if point difference comes into the group tiebreaks later in November.