The Charlotte Hornets were within four points of the Detroit Pistons with less than five minutes left in the third quarter Monday night, and then Detroit scored the last 19 points of the quarter.
The Pistons won 124-91 at Spectrum Center. It was Charlotte's fourth straight loss, and the Hornets fell to 3-5.
Detroit guard Cade Cunningham scored 11 of the 19 points in that run. He finished with 33 points on 13-of-20 shooting and had five steals. Detroit guard Duncan Robinson added 24, with six 3-pointers, and the Pistons made 57.3 percent of their shots.
Charlotte turned the ball over 25 times. "It's hard to get the offense going when you have 25 turnovers," said guard Coby White.
White started and scored seven points in 16 minutes in his first game of the season, after missing the first seven. Before the game, coach Charles Lee said the team was "not going to push it to the limit" with him. Guard Brandon Miller led Charlotte with 17 points.
The losing streak began at Detroit on Oct. 28. On Friday in Washington, the Wizards won 95-79 in an NBA Cup group game, part of the league's in-season tournament. Charlotte made 30 of 101 shots.
On Saturday, the Philadelphia 76ers came back to beat Charlotte 109-104 at Spectrum Center. The Hornets led by six after three quarters, and Philadelphia outscored them 32-21 in the fourth. Philadelphia guard Tyrese Maxey scored 38. Charlotte guard Grayson Allen scored 27 off the bench and made seven of his 10 3-point attempts.
On Sunday, Jeff Peterson, the Hornets' president of basketball operations, announced that the team had picked up its third-year options on forwards Kon Knueppel and Liam McNeeley, keeping both under contract for a third season. Knueppel, the fourth pick in the 2025 draft, has not played this season.
The Hornets play at the Brooklyn Nets at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.