Wright, Ellington carry Pistons over East-leading 76ers 119-104

DETROIT (AP) — Delon Wright scored a career-high 28 points and Wayne Ellington had another impressive shooting night for Detroit, leading the Pistons to a 119-104 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia 76ers on Monday.

Jerami Grant scored 25 points for the Pistons (4-13), who still have the NBA’s worst record but took advantage of Joel Embiid’s absence. The Philadelphia star was out with back tightness.

Detroit acquitted itself well in this two-game mini-series with the 76ers. Philadelphia needed a big game from Embiid to prevail 114-110 on Saturday night.

The Pistons never trailed in the rematch. Ellington scored 20 points, shooting 6 of 9 from 3-point range. It was his fifth straight game with at least four 3s, tying a team record set by Joe Dumars in 1998-99.

Ellington is 30 of 50 from beyond the arc in his last six games.

Tobias Harris led Philadelphia with 25 points, but the 76ers (12-6) never made much of a run after the Pistons controlled the early going. Detroit’s Josh Jackson was ejected in the fourth quarter, but Philadelphia couldn’t take advantage.

There were five technical fouls in the game.

Detroit took an early 17-4 lead and was still ahead 64-50 at halftime. The third quarter came and went without the lead getting any tighter than seven, and it was never closer than nine in the fourth.

TIP-INS

76ers: Coach Doc Rivers and C Dwight Howard received technical fouls in the second quarter.

Pistons: Derrick Rose (left knee) missed the game. … Detroit came in averaging a league-high 44.1 bench points per game. The Pistons had only 29 on Monday.

UP NEXT

76ers: Host the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night in what could be a matchup between conference leaders.

Pistons: Visit the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night. Detroit lost to Cleveland 128-119 in double overtime Dec. 26.