The absence of Cade Cunningham hasn’t affected the Detroit Pistons’ bottom line.

Detroit’s All-Star guard has missed three games after being diagnosed with a collapsed lung. The Pistons have continued to win without their team leader. They will carry a four-game winning streak into their home matchup with the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday.

The Eastern Conference’s top team halted the Los Angeles Lakers’ nine-game winning streak on Monday with a 113-110 home victory.

Cunningham’s replacement in the lineup, Daniss Jenkins, scored a career-high 30 points. He hit a key baseline jumper and two free throws in the last 25 seconds.

“For me, I always say I’m forever humble, thankful and grateful. But you know what you can do, how I can impact the game,” Jenkins said. “Everybody else is surprised. For myself, and I speak humbly and respectfully, but I just know the work that I put in. I just know when my number is called, I know what I’m about and how I’m going to help the team. So, that’s all I try to go out and do. It really doesn’t surprise me.”

Jenkins began the season on a two-way contract. He was promoted on a two-year standard contract last month.

“Again, no longer surprised,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “When he has the opportunity, he has delivered for us. Whether it’s throughout the game or in clutch moments, he finds a way to impact winning. I thought, again, he made huge plays down the stretch, made his free throws. So, he deserves a lot of credit.”

Detroit (52-19) is getting closer to securing the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Pistons have a five-game cushion over their closest pursuer with 11 games remaining.

The Pistons can sweep the four-game season series with the Hawks with a victory on Wednesday. All those wins came during November and December.

Atlanta (40-32) is now the hottest team in the league, winning 13 of its last 14 contests. The Hawks pummeled the injury-riddled Memphis Grizzlies 146-107 on Monday. The surge has positioned the Hawks to potentially avoid the play-in tournament.

The Hawks had eight players score in double figures, including four reserves, during their latest victory. They had 37 assists on 49 made field goals.

“I thought CJ (McCollum) set the tone early,” coach Quin Snyder said. “He was just in the lane and had his eyes out, finding people, and then Nickeil (Alexander-Walker) had a stretch at the beginning of the third quarter, where just those guys playing that way, it raises everybody’s level. It sets a tone.”

Alexander-Walker scored one of his baskets on a first-quarter dunk, a rarity for him.

“Paint touches are important to the team. Just transition play,” Alexander-Walker said. “From when I got the ball, I could see the defender was timing me. So I knew I had to go aggressively. If I tried to lay it up, he probably would have, I think, like, the more aggressive guy wins in that situation.”

The game on Wednesday begins a stretch of three games in four nights for Atlanta. The Hawks will visit Boston on Friday and host Sacramento on Saturday.

–Field Level Media

Georgetown guard KJ Lewis, an All-Big East third-team selection, plans to enter the transfer portal for a second consecutive offseason, On3 reported on Tuesday.

Lewis, who played his first two seasons at Arizona, started 27 of his 28 games this season, leading the Hoyas in scoring average (14.9), which was ninth in the Big East. He also was second in the league in steals (2.1 per game) and led the team with 5.1 rebounds.

The 6-foot-4 Lewis sustained a season-ending injury to his left ankle against Marquette on Feb. 24, with six games remaining in the regular season.

Georgetown (16-18, 6-14 Big East) won two games at the conference tournament before falling to UConn in the semifinals.

Lewis averaged 10.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in 37 games (six starts) last season at Arizona. He made the Pac-12 All-Freshman team as an honorable mention in 2023-24. He averaged 8.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals in 73 career games for the Wildcats.

–Field Level Media

The slate has been wiped clean ahead of Wednesday’s meeting in Indianapolis, where the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers collide after both saw their recent streaks come to an end.

Indiana coach Rick Carlisle implored his players to “make a stand” after crashing to a 16th consecutive loss — a franchise record — and the Pacers did just that with a drought-breaking 128-126 victory over the host Orlando Magic on Monday.

Pascal Siakam scored 37 points before producing the clutch defensive play of the game when he blocked Paolo Banchero’s drive at the buzzer, which would have sent the game into overtime.

“We had not been playing well,” Carlisle said. “The game (Saturday) in San Antonio was very disappointing for all of us. We talked about it (Monday) morning that we needed to make a stand and raise our level of collective will of how we’re competing. Guys did it, led by the veterans — Pascal, Andrew (Nesmith) and Aaron (Nembhard). It was a great game. It felt like a playoff-type game.”

Indiana (16-56) had led by 12 deep in the fourth period before narrowly surviving a late Orlando rally.

It was the Pacers’ first win since Feb. 11, before the All-Star Game that featured Siakam, who is averaging a team-best 24.0 points.

“In the position we’re in, we need to play as much meaningful basketball as we can, because we know we’re not going to be in the playoffs,” Carlisle said. “This was an important game at an important time … We hadn’t won a game in a while. We needed this.”

The Lakers (46-26) had won nine straight — their best run since 2020 — before being edged 113-110 in Detroit on Monday.

Luka Doncic — the league’s leading scorer, averaging 33.4 points — posted 32 against the Pistons, but missed two key shots down the stretch.

The Slovenian superstar was unsuccessful with a go-ahead pullup from 13 feet, before Daniss Jenkins’ two free throws at the other end put Detroit up by three.

Los Angeles called for time and LeBron James’ long inbound caught a deflection before ending with Doncic, who missed a tough 3-pointer over Jalen Duren to level it at the buzzer.

Despite the setback, Lakers coach JJ Redick liked how his team rallied after the Pistons had stormed ahead by 16 in the third period.

“I didn’t feel like we were going to break,” Redick said. “We made the adjustment at halftime to switch one through five. That was helpful in slowing them down.”

The Lakers’ cause wasn’t helped by the absence of regular starters Marcus Smart (ankle) and Rui Hachimura (calf). Smart is doubtful to play Wednesday and Hachimura is questionable.

“Our winning streak also coincided with us being healthy,” Redick said. “(Monday), Smart and Rui were out. Not having Smart killed us. It’s important for us that we can get healthy and play our rotation. Post-Luke (Kennard) trade, when all nine guys have played, we’ve been a good basketball team. We need to finish the season strong, but we also need to finish the season healthy.”

LeBron James endured a rare scoreless first half but still impacted the game, finishing just shy of a triple double — 12 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

“They play extremely hard, extremely fast and they’re super well-coached,” James said of the Pacers. “We’ve got to be ready for that. It’s our last game of the road trip. I know everybody’s trying to get home, but we’ve got business to take care of. We’ll be ready.”

–Field Level Media