Road, sweet road.
The Detroit Pistons broke a two-game losing streak with a dominating 127-81 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.
The 46-point margin of victory marked the second largest by the Pistons in a road game in franchise history. Only a 52-point win at the Celtics in 2003 was larger. It also marked the largest Pistons win of the season as they moved to 38-31 on the year.
The win snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Pelicans and marked Detroit’s first win in New Orleans since 2019.
It also came after back-to-back painful home losses to close last week: to last-place Washington and in a foul-filled matchup against the Thunder on Saturday.
On Monday, the Pistons dominated from the opening tipoff of a game that was never in question; they led by 20 points after one quarter and by 31 at halftime. They jumped out to that lead largely due to their defensive prowess: they limited New Orleans to 13 points on 5-for-27 shooting in the first quarter.
The Pistons in particular shut down the Pelicans’ backcourt: CJ McCollom shot 1-for-15 for the game and Jose Alvarado shot 1-for-10.
Cade Cunningham, a game after being ejected vs. Oklahoma City for back-to-back technical fouls, recorded a team-high 24 points on 10-for-16 shooting with eight assists in 29 minutes. Simone Fontecchio hit all five of his 3-point attempts to record a season-high 23 points. Seven other Pistons players scored at least eight points as the Pistons went deep into their bench.
The win brought the Pistons to 20-15 on the road this season; they’re 18-16 at home. Several of those wins have been by large margins: they’ve won by 40 points over the Bulls, 28 points over the Jazz and 15 points over the Spurs since the beginning of February.
The game marked the first of a three-game Pistons road trip: Detroit will play in Miami on Wednesday and Dallas on Friday.