PHILADELPHIA — At halftime of Sunday night’s game at Xfinity Mobile Arena, it looked like the Detroit Pistons would see their five-game winning streak come to a screeching halt.

The hometown Philadelphia 76ers were moving the basketball, hitting shots and playing with a verve that the Pistons — despite being the rested team, having not played the night before, as Philadelphia did — didn’t seem capable of matching.

But then the second half started. And behind a spectacular performance from Cade Cunningham — who scored 24 of his 26 points after the break, including a spectacular dunk over former Piston Andre Drummond in the game’s closing minutes — Detroit secured a 111-108 victory, givingthe franchise its best start to a season in a generation.

“It’s not hard to believe,” Cunningham said when asked whether he was surprised by Detroit’s 8-2 start only two years after its 14-68 season. “Even then, I couldn’t believe that we were in such a low.

“So to be here now, I feel like we’re where we’re supposed to be. We got a lot of guys that have always been big-time players, have always found ways to win at every level, and the NBA is tough. So we got here and we had to figure it out together. We were young, but now we’re getting our foot in and we’re figuring it out.”

It’s a lot easier to figure things out when your team is led by a player like Cunningham, who has backed up last season’s breakout performance — when he made his first All-Star and All-NBA appearances of his career and led Detroit to the playoffs — by leading the league in assists and putting up one impressive performance after another in the early going.

Cunningham had entered Sunday’s game having scored at least 30 points in three consecutive games and in four of Detroit’s last five. But after playing well below his standards in that first half — with just two points on 1-for-9 shooting from the field — he completely flipped things around, allowing Detroit to post its best record through 10 games since starting the 2005-06 season with a 9-1 record.

Cunningham’s 17 points in the third quarter immediately pulled Detroit back into the game after it trailed by as many as 13. And that was before his spectacular dunk over Drummond with just under two minutes to go helped in denying a late push by Tyrese Maxey (32 points, seven assists) and the 76ers (6-4).

“Man, he could get one of those every game,” Jalen Duren(21 points, 16 rebounds) said with a smile. “I don’t know why he doesn’t. But I love it. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of that. His game speaks for itself.

“I continue to say [he’s the] best guard in the NBA, so he going to make plays like that.”

Duren has also taken a massive step forward this season, with Sunday’s game marking the sixth time he has eclipsed 20 points this season. His 19.4 points per game this season dwarfs his averages from last season (11.8) and 2023-24 (13.8).

He has also played a significant role in Detroit’s third-ranked defense through 10 games, and he contributed another two steals and two blocks Sunday while continuing to be one of the league’s most imposing rebounders.

“He’s been dominant,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “The way he helps us protect the rim, the job he does on the boards, the threat that he is in the pick-and-roll and in the pocket … he’s a guy that can connect our group, too. He’s another guy who can facilitate and playmake, and then he’s an elite communicator, which has been a huge growth for him defensively. He’s talking to guys, always in the right spot, so I thought he was great again tonight.”

Cunningham and Duren also share the connection of having lived through that dismal 14-68 season two years ago, when it seemed like the Pistons were miles away from being relevant in the Eastern Conference. But as the league wakes up Monday morning, it will be Detroit looking down at the rest of the conference, and looking up at only one team — the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder — in the league standings.

“I think sky’s the limit,” Duren said when asked about his expectations. “I think we keep following J.B., keep working hard, keep defending, keep playing together … I think sky’s the limit at that point.”

For his part, Cunningham said that even when things were at their lowest ebb two seasons ago, his belief in himself kept him pushing him forward. It is that same belief that won’t allow him to be satisfied with only a good start to the season.

“Yeah, I mean, more than anything, my faith in myself, knowing that I was going to be successful in the NBA, knowing that I was going to do everything it took to be successful,” he said. “And I got lucky and fell into a franchise in the city that has the same mentality that I felt like it took for me to take the next step.

“So it has been a hell of a ride, man. It’s been a lot of ups and downs. It’s still early, though … I’m not above myself because we’re 8-2. I think this [success] is something that we all want, but we want something bigger than this. So we just want to keep our heads down and keep working.”br/]

We only need about a tenth of an inch of snow to officially mark our first accumulating snowfall of the season, and it looks like we’ll reach that threshold, especially by Monday.

Late Sunday night, any lingering rain and snow showers will transition fully to snow showers across the entire region.

This change is driven by a northwest wind flow kicking in, which is typical for lake-effect snow events in this area.

These snow showers are expected to continue through Monday, bringing that first real taste of winter.

This lake-effect snow event won’t just bring snow — it will also usher in a reinforcing shot of colder air to start the week.

After highs in the mid to upper 40s on Friday, temperatures will drop into the upper 30s by Sunday and continue falling into the mid-30s by Monday.

This will be well below average for this time of year, signaling a chilly start to the week.

As we move into Tuesday and Wednesday, the forecast calls for some lingering cloud cover, but temperatures will begin to rebound.

Highs are expected to climb back to around 40 degrees on Tuesday and then into the upper 40s by Wednesday, bringing a bit of a warm-up after the cold snap.

By Thursday, another weather system will bring a chance of rain showers to the region.

High temperatures are forecast to remain in the mid-40s, keeping things relatively mild despite the chance of rain.

Looking ahead to the end of the week, drier weather and some sunshine are expected to return by Friday.

Temperatures should hold steady in the mid-40s, providing a more comfortable finish to the week.