Pistons bounce back, extend lead over Cavs for East lead

(AFP) The Detroit Pistons took advantage of a Cleveland Cavaliers defensive blunder in the final minutes and prevailed 122-119 on Friday in a dramatic game at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

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Pistons and Cavs go to the wire

An intentional foul by Jaylon Tyson on Daniss Jenkins with five seconds left on a half-court shot allowed Detroit to tie the game at 114 and extend a game that seemed lost.

Eventually, the Pistons managed to prevail 8-5 in overtime and secured their 44th win of the season, their second in a row.

They did it without Cade Cunningham in the final minutes, their star player sidelined in the fourth quarter after he fouled out.

Jalen Duren took a starring role on defense and on offense with a 33-point, 16-rebound night.

The loss takes an even bigger emotional hit for the Cavs who appeared to have the game won with notable absences of James Harden (right thumb) and Donovan Mitchell (groin), their two biggest stars.

Evan Mobley, who missed a desperation attempt to tie the game, finished with a double-double of 23 points and 12 rebounds for Cleveland.

Detroit (44-14) extends its lead to eight and a half games over Cleveland (37-24) atop the Eastern Conference standings.

Knicks seal long-distance win

With a total of 21 3-pointers, the New York Knicks defeated the Bucks 127-98 at Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum.

O.G. Anunoby and Landry Shamet hit five 3-pointers apiece while Jalen Brunson contributed four on a 27-point, 7-rebound night for the point guard.

The Knicks were down by five early in the first quarter, managed to recover and establish a lead of up to 32 points.

Dominican Karl-Anthony Towns played 29 minutes in which he completed a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds.

For the Bucks, who are still without star Giannis Antetokounmpo, Myles Turner was the top scorer with 19 points and four 3-pointers for the 29-year-old center.

Gilgeous-Alexander returns in Thunder win over Nuggets

The Oklahoma City Thunder won a 127-121 thriller over the Denver Nuggets in a game that marked the return of Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander after a nine-game absence with an abdominal injury.

Gilgeous-Alexander, 27, played 34 minutes for 36 points and 9 assists, but sat out overtime on a coaching decision.

Chet Holmgren had a monumental double-double of 13 points and 20 rebounds.

Luguentz Dort, who was OKC's starting small forward, was ejected for a run-in with Serbia's Nikola Jokic and a foul that was deemed unnecessary by game officials.

The Paycom Center in Oklahoma City was high-octane in a dominant overtime by the home team in which they managed to prevail 20-14.

Denver felt the weight of the game down the stretch, and Jokic could do little to avoid defeat despite adding another triple double of 23 points, 17 rebounds and 14 assists.

OKC (46-15) remains atop the West with a two-game lead over the streaking San Antonio Spurs, who have won 11 straight games.