Hunter Patterson

The synergy between Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren is obvious this season. But their chemistry was developed off the court. An exclusive on how two offseason trips strengthened their bond and pushed the Pistons to the top of the Eastern Conference: nytimes.com/athletic/68585…

Ausar on Cade’s absence: “We play with him in our mind. How hard he goes every day, his energy, we’ve got to step up as a collective and bring that. … When he comes back we’re going to be very excited and ready for him to step in and do what he does.”

Ausar Thompson on reaching 50 wins: “It means a lot. Just shows all the work we’ve put in as individuals and as a team, and how much we trust the coaches and their game plans and ideas.”

Pistons beat the Wizards 117-95 to improve to 50-19. It’s their first 50-win season since 2008. Duren had a game-high 24 and 11 boards in 25mins. Paul Reed had 17 off the bench. Huerter added 14, 4 steals and was a game-high +26. Detroit is back at LCA tomorrow against GSW.

Pistons take an 88-78 lead into the fourth.

@AaronTalley I’m still not sure about that one. Officials didn’t give an explanation when they announced it, and I didn’t see anything that seemed worthy of a tech.

@HunterPatterson What was the Duran tech for?

Pistons up 60-52 at the half. JD is Detroit’s lone double-figure scorer so far with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Pistons have to start the third more locked in than they were in the second when they allowed the Wizards to get comfortable and score 38.

Wizards are outscoring the Pistons 23-11 in the second, and have trimmed Detroit’s lead to 46-37 with 6:56 remaining in the half.

Vukcevic hit Ron with a hard screen, BBall Paul took exception to it and made sure he let Vukcevic know he wasn’t feeling it. Flagrant 1 on BBall and double techs on Ron and Vukcevic.

Solid start for Caris as a facilitator. Already has three assists and he’s been feeding the bigs.

JD is picking up right where he left off Tuesday. He’s got 7 points and 5 boards in 9mins.

@AndrewKSchlecht Praying for you, Amy and your family. 🙏🏽

My wife Amy was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and starts chemo therapy tomorrow afternoon. We have felt really encouraged by our community and feel God’s presence through it all. Pray for strength for her and she starts this journey. We believe she will have complete healing, but it will be a long road. I’m thankful for all that have reached out in support of her. Please pray for her + my boys and I through this process

Daniss gets the start tonight.

League sources confirm Cade Cunningham has a collapsed lung and is undergoing testing to determine how long he’ll be sidelined: nytimes.com/athletic/71308…

J.B. on Jalen Duren stepping up without Cade: “That’s what it’s going to be. The ball is going to be in his hands a ton, and he has the ability. It’s been great to see his growth overall as a connector. … He’s a guy we’ll play through.”

J.B. on how the Pistons’ offense will change with Cade sidelined: “You’re not going to be able to replace what he does individually. … If everybody plays to the best of their abilities and their strength and ticks it up a little bit more, collectively we can get the job done.”

J.B. on Cade Cunningham: “It’s tough. Tough for Cade to go through what he’s going through now. … He’s a huge part of what we do from a leadership standpoint. The talent’s there, but being around him every single day makes people’s days better. We’ll miss that.”

With Cade Cunningham out at least two weeks and Isaiah Stewart nursing a left calf strain, the Pistons’ bench becomes even more valuable. Here’s why J.B. Bickerstaff believes Detroit’s depth can be a “weapon” moving forward: nytimes.com/athletic/71296…

Got together with @ByJayKing and @HunterPatterson to talk about how the Cade Cunningham news impacts — or if it does at all — the East playoff race. We also predict the top-8 seeds (people of Toronto, you know I love you, but I’m sorry): nytimes.com/athletic/71312…

Cade will be re-evaluated in two weeks.