DETROIT – An ejection to the Detroit Pistons’ star kicked off a furious fourth-quarter rally against a first-place team on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena.
But the Pistons ultimately came up short in a 113-107 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team’s second in a row at home.
Cade Cunningham was ejected after picking up back-to-back technical fouls late in the third quarter, and the Thunder took a 15-point lead on the ensuing free throws.
But even without their All-Star guard, the Pistons battled back in the fourth quarter to nearly upset the team with the second-best record in the NBA.
Starting with 9:50 left in the fourth quarter, the Pistons made three straight shots and two free throws to start to cut the deficit. As they held the Thunder to a 3-for-9 start, they pulled to within five points on a dunk by Tim Hardaway Jr. with 5:59 left, then to within one on a Malik Beasley 3-pointer at 4:16.
But Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander answered with back-to-back shots and Cason Wallace hit a dagger 3-pointer with 1:32 left to keep the Pistons at bay.
Detroit (37-31) has now lost back-to-back games after falling to the last-place Wizards on Thursday.
Cunningham’s ejection with 47 seconds left in the third quarter, the second of his career, came after he appeared to pick up both technical fouls for comments directed at officials; he threw an armband into the stands as he exited the court.
Dennis Schroder also picked up a technical foul in the same stoppage, giving the Thunder five consecutive free throw tries. They made four of them and finished the sequence ahead by a game-high 15 points after leading by one at halftime.
The ejection ended a difficult night for Detroit’s All-Star, who shot 5-for-18 from the field, although he added nine assists and seven rebounds.
Gilgeous-Alexander, meanwhile, recorded 47 points to lead Oklahoma City.
Tobias Harris led the Pistons with 18 points, while Schroder scored 17 off of the bench.
The Thunder took an early 11-point lead in the first quarter, but the Pistons’ second unit got the team back into the game and then some.
Schroder, Isaiah Stewart and Simone Fontecchio were all as high as plus-18 and Malik Beasley was plus-19, in a shift that saw the Pistons go from behind by double digits to ahead by double digits.
Beasley gave the Pistons their first lead of the game on a 3-pointer in the opening minute of the second quarter, while Schroder had three assists and Stewart recorded two blocks.
Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s leading scorer and MVP favorite, returned to score 13 points in the final 5:07 to give the Thunder a one-point halftime lead. He continued that onslaught to reach 30 points before the end of the third quarter and stake the Thunder to a lead the Pistons ultimately couldn’t overcome.
The Pistons kick off a three-game road trip next week with a Monday game in New Orleans.