Cade Cunningham: Thankful I don’t have to meet Isaiah Stewart at rim
“He has the best timing in the league,” Cade Cunningham said of teammate Isaiah Stewart, after Detroit Pistons win over Trail Blazers, Dec. 5, 2025.
A big second half allowed the Detroit Pistons to blow out a Milwaukee Bucks team without Giannis Antetokounmpo.
They defeated the Bucks, 124-112, to improve to 19-5 on Saturday, Dec. 6. The Pistons led by 27 points with 4:03, before the Bucks closed the game with a 21-6 run in the final minutes.
Seven Pistons scored in double figures, led by Cade Cunningham (23 points, 12 assists, six rebounds). Isaiah Stewart scored 19 points, Jalen Duren had a double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds and Ausar Thompson tallied 13 points, eight assists and six rebounds. The Pistons shot 50%.
“These are the best [wins] where we move the ball around and everybody gets a piece of the action,” Cunningham said. “Everybody just played a great brand of basketball. We had a lot of turnovers in the first half; we cut that down in the second half. That was the change in the game for us.
“These are the fun ones, [when] everybody gets in on it. Everybody can score the ball. We have a lot of depth so it’s easy for guys to put the ball in the rim, it’s just about us following the game plan and getting each other shots.”
They will have a five-day break before hosting the Atlanta Hawks on Friday (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Detroit).
Pistons clean up turnovers in second half
Despite shooting 57.1% in the first half, the Pistons only led by five at halftime, 61-56. It was mainly because they committed 12 turnovers, off which the Bucks scored 20 points. The Pistons had issues moving the ball against their zone defense, similar to their road loss to Milwaukee on Wednesday.
Turnovers have been an issue of late, with the team committing at least 20 in three consecutive games from Nov. 28-Dec. 1 and nine in the second half against the Bucks Dec. 3. They only committed two in the second half Saturday, enabling them to run away with the game after halftime as they remained hot from the field.
“That was the difference,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “In that first half, when we got a shot, we got really good looks and were shooting a high percentage. We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot by turning the ball over, and then that puts stress on our defense also. Once we are able to settle in and make the easy play and get comfortable doing that, we were able to take off and build a pretty big lead.”
Ausar Thompson growing comfortable as midrange shooter
It was an efficient night for Thompson, who went 6-for-7 from the floor. That included a pair of jumpers from midrange, an area of the floor becoming a focal point of his game.
According to Cleaning The Glass, 39% of Thompson’s field goal attempts this season have come from midrange. It’s his career-high after taking 27% of his shots there last season, and 26% his rookie season. He has made 40% of his attempts there this season, below the league average but above his 36% clip last season.
His comfort from midrange has expanded as he phases the 3-pointer out of his game, with just 16 attempts through 20 appearances. Thompson’s jumper looks fluid inside the arc, and it’s adding a new dynamic to his game.
“It changes a lot for him because the shot is basically make or miss,” Bickerstaff said. “When he elevates that way, there’s nothing the defense can do and it’s just a matter of him making it or missing it. It’s not like some other shots that can be contested or he has to change, because he’s so elite at getting to that spot and then obviously he can reach levels that other guys can’t get to to get a clean look at it. It’s something that he’s been working on a ton. [He] started working on it this summer, and it’s something we wanted him to continue to do more of.”
Marcus Sasser makes season debut as J.B. Bickerstaff shortens rotation
Saturday marked the first time since Nov. 9 that two-way guard Daniss Jenkins wasn’t a core rotation player. Bickerstaff stuck with a 10-man rotation for most of the night after experimenting with going 11- or 12-deep this week, as the roster got healthier with Jaden Ivey’s return. With Harris out and Stewart starting at power forward, Paul Reed was the 10th man as their backup center.
With the Pistons leading by 25 points late in the fourth, Marcus Sasser made his season debut, with 4:13 remaining. It was his first action since preseason, as a right hip impingement held him out of the first 23 games. Jenkins and rookie Chaz Lanier checked in not long after, at the 3:34 mark.
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