A 40-15 Cleveland Cavaliers run, led by a red hot Darius Garland, buried the Detroit Pistons by the midway point of the third quarter.

The Pistons couldn't build off of Tuesday's road win against the Chicago Bulls, falling to the Cavaliers at home, 110-100, on Friday night. The game wasn't as close as the final score, as Detroit trailed by 26 in the second quarter and by double digits for the majority of the second half before a late rally.

Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 21 points and 10 assists, and Isaiah Stewart added 16 points and nine rebounds while knocking down four of his seven 3-point attempts. The Pistons shot just 10-36 (27.8%) from 3 while the Cavaliers made 18 of their 41 attempts, a 24-point disparity that Detroit couldn’t overcome.

More: Detroit Pistons sacrifice offense to prioritize 'core five' by starting Isaiah Stewart

Garland finished with 29 points and knocked down eight of his 12 3-pointers, with six of them falling during an 18-point second quarter for the guard. Evan Mobley added 22 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists.

A late 26-14 rally in the fourth period allowed the Pistons to cut it to eight, 105-97, with less than three minutes remaining. But it was too late. Garland answered a pair of free throws from Jalen Duren (14 points, 10 rebounds) with a midrange jumper to push Cleveland's lead back to double-digits.

The Pistons then got within seven, with a Jaden Ivey 3-pointer extending their stretch to 29-16 to to cut the score to 107-100 with 1:22 to go. Cleveland proceeded to close the win out with a pair of free throws each from Mobley and Max Strus.

The Cavaliers were without All-NBA guard Donovan Mitchell (left knee soreness) and Michigan alumnus Caris LeVert (right elbow sprain). The Pistons were without Marcus Sasser, who missed his fourth-straight game with a right knee contusion.

All-bench unit struggles, again

It’s become a familiar cadence for the Pistons — the starters open the game with competitive energy, only for the opposing team to build a lead against an all-bench unit at the end of the first quarter. Friday’s loss followed the script.

An 11-0 Cavaliers run to open the game was promptly answered by the Pistons’ starters, who tied the game at 14 by making six of eight shot attempts after missing their first five. Detroit initially sustained momentum as the substitutions began, but the game slipped away as Monty Williams went deeper into his bench.

Simone Fontecchio and Quentin Grimes were the first two to check in, for Jaden Ivey and Ausar Thompson. A midrange jumper by Grimes brought the Pistons back within one, 23-22, at the 3:19 mark. Malachi Flynn, Evan Fournier and James Wiseman checked in afterward, joining Fontecchio and Grimes. From there, Cleveland took complete control.

With Mobley still on the floor, the Flynn-Grimes-Fournier-Fontecchio-Wiseman unit got crushed. Cleveland closed the first with a 9-2 run, with Wiseman scoring Detroit’s lone bucket with a dunk following a wraparound pass from Fontecchio. The run extended to 14-2 before Williams subbed Cunningham and Ivey back in less than three minutes into the second, but Detroit couldn’t find a rhythm on either end.

By the time Garland checked back in at the 8:37 mark, the Pistons trailed by 13 points. It was then that the game got out of hand, as Garland proceeded to knock down six 3-pointers before halftime to push Cleveland’s lead as high as 26.

Through the end of the third quarter, Detroit’s bench had just six points — four from Wiseman, and two from Grimes. The starters closed the first half with an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to 15, and that’s as close as the Pistons would get until a 3-pointer from Thompson cut it to 13 midway through the fourth..

Williams declined to go all-bench in the second half, and it was a key reason why Detroit was able to get within 10 points in the final quarter.

Garland's 3-point barrage

The All-Star guard caught fire like a meteor in the second period, knocking down six 3-pointers from the 8:30 mark until there was 4:02 remaining. That included four makes in a row to give the Cavaliers their biggest lead of the night, 63-37. As a team, Cleveland made nine of their 16 attempts in the quarter, nearly matching Detroit’s total for the night.

Garland made his seventh and eighth 3-pointers in the third to push Cleveland’s lead back to 23, 75-52, and help his team open the third with a 14-4 run.

Another roster move

After the game, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Pistons and guard Shake Milton have agreed to a contract buyout. The agreement comes on the day players must be free agents in order sign with another and be eligible for the playoffs.

Milton, who joined the Pistons in the Monte Morris trade last month, has not played in the last four games. The six-year veteran averaged 6.8 points in four games in Detroit, playing just under 16 minutes per game. He did not play heavy minutes with Minnesota before this season's trade.

Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him @omarisankofa.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons fall to Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers, 110-100