Cunningham stars late as the Pistons hang on to beat the Hawks 99-98

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Cunningham stars late as the Pistons hang on to beat the Hawks 99-98

2025-12-02 10:33 Last Updated At：10:40

DETROIT (AP) — Cade Cunningham scored eight of his 18 points in the final 3:21, and the Detroit Pistons rallied to beat the Atlanta Hawks 99-98 on Monday night.

Atlanta had a chance to win with 0.1 seconds left, but Jalen Johnson couldn't convert a tip-in as time expired.

Jalen Duren had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Pistons, who won for the 15th time in 17 games. Caris LeVert added 14 points and made two key defensive plays down the stretch.

Johnson had 29 points and 13 rebounds for Atlanta, which had won four of five. Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 26 points and Onyeka Okongwu scored 20.

Neither team led by more than five points until LeVert made it 74-68 with the last basket of the third quarter.

Detroit created possessions with relentless pressure on the glass — it had more offensive rebounds than Atlanta had defensive rebounds for much of the game — but gave them back with 22 turnovers in the first three quarters.

Alexander-Walker's 3-pointer tied it at 82 with 7:06 to play, but Cunningham's short jumper put the Pistons up 91-89 with 3:21 to go. LeVert forced turnovers on the next two Atlanta possessions. He turned the first one into a layup, and Cunningham hit two free throws on the second.

That made it 95-89, but Cunningham missed a 3-pointer, and Johnson and Alexander-Walker hit back-to-back 3s to tie the game with 1:12 left.

Cunningham's jumper made it 97-95, and Alexander-Walker missed at the other end. Cunningham then converted a reverse layup in traffic with 17 seconds to play.

Alexander-Walker made another 3-pointer to make it 99-98 with 1.2 seconds left. Daniss Jenkins missed two free throws, and the Hawks called a timeout with 0.1 seconds left.

Hawks: Host the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.

Pistons: Visit the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Boyd helps the Cubs beat the Angels 6-2 in rubber game of series

CHICAGO (AP) — Matthew Boyd struck out 10 while pitching into the sixth inning, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-2 on Wednesday.

Nico Hoerner had three hits for Chicago on a chilly and windy afternoon at Wrigley Field. Matt Shaw had two hits and two RBIs, and Alex Bregman reached three times in the rubber game of the three-game series.

Boyd (1-1) allowed two runs, one earned, and two hits over 5 2/3 innings in his second start of the season. The left-hander was tagged for six runs in 3 2/3 innings in a 10-4 loss to Washington on opening day.

Zach Neto had two of the Angels' four hits. Yusei Kikuchi (0-1) was charged with five runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Chicago grabbed control with five runs in the third inning. Miguel Amaya walked and scored from first on Hoerner's double into the gap in left-center. Bregman singled in Hoerner, and Dansby Swanson drove in Ian Happ with a sacrifice fly. Shaw and Pete Crow-Armstrong contributed two-out RBI singles.

First-year Los Angeles manager Kurt Suzuki wanted a replay review of the play at the plate when Amaya scored but was denied by the umpires because he took too long to decide on the challenge.

The Angels chased Boyd while scoring two runs in the sixth. Jo Adell singled in Neto, and Mike Trout scampered home on an error on Bregman at third.

The Cubs tacked on an unearned run in the seventh. Trout dropped Carson Kelly's leadoff flyball to center for an error, and Kelly scored on Shaw's one-out single.

Angels: Following an off day, LHP Reid Detmers (0-0, 5.79 ERA) starts for the Angels in their home opener on Friday night. RHP Bryan Woo (0-0, 3.00 ERA) takes the mound for Seattle.

Cubs: RHP Cade Horton (1-0, 2.84 ERA) starts the opener of a weekend series at Cleveland on Friday. LHP Joey Cantillo (0-0, 4.91 ERA) gets the ball for the Guardians.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb