Detroit Pistons — finally — are showing signs of improvement. Here's what's starting to work.

Isaiah Stewart took a brief moment to consider how he felt. He almost looked relieved as the words fell out of his mouth.

“Good,” he said. “We’ve won two in a row. It feels good. Winning feels good. We’re trying to carry this momentum for the rest of the season and run through the tape.”

It hasn’t been a feel-good season for the Detroit Pistons. But the vibes, at last, are improving. They picked up their second-straight win — and third victory in four games — with Wednesday’s 113-104 defeat of the Toronto Raptors. That’s after completing a season sweep over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, and beating the Brooklyn Nets on March 7.

At 12-53 overall, the Pistons still own the NBA’s second-worst record. But one-fourth of their wins have come within the last week. And it continues a steady improvement that began with a 133-120 road win over the Sacramento Kings on Feb. 7, played hours after general manager Troy Weaver kicked off the trade deadline with two deals.

The Pistons are 6-10 starting with that Kings win (a 31-win pace) with a net rating of minus-3 — tied for 19th with the Los Angeles Clippers. Their defensive rating in that span is 113, 15th in the NBA.

It’s nothing to brag about. Yet, still represents progress for a team that tied the record for most consecutive losses (28) less than three months ago.

The Pistons committed 21 turnovers against a rag-tag Raptors team, but got a big performance from Jalen Duren (24 points, 23 rebounds and five assists) a solid night from Cade Cunningham (19 points, six assists) and a standout stretch for the second unit.

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Cunningham sat on the bench for the final 15 minutes of the game. The second unit, led by a backcourt of Jaden Ivey and Marcus Sasser, built a 16-point lead with 4 minutes remaining in the game. Sasser knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead to 13, and Stewart, who finished with 15 points and three blocks, knocked down another 3-pointer shortly after checking in to cap a 30-17 Pistons run.

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“I just decided to roll with that group,” Monty Williams said. “I had (Cunningham) coming back right when Sass hit that 3 the left wing … (but) I just decided to run with the group. The one thing that’s tough is when a guy’s sat that long and you try to bring him back, that’s pretty hard. He could’ve done it, but I just decided to sit him. Just glad it worked out for us.”

“Hats off to the second unit tonight,” Stewart added. “They continued to build onto the lead, continued to give us a cushion until the starters got back in. Sasser was hot. Cade was a great teammate and told coach to just let him finish out the game. That unit did a good job tonight.”

The Pistons’ trade deadline, thus far, appears to have improved the team. In their 49 games prior to Feb. 7, they had both the NBA’s second-worst defensive rating (120.5) and overall net rating (minus-9.5). They also had the same number of wins — the Pistons are 6-10 since starting the season 6-43.

Simone Fontecchio has filled a key need as a two-way forward. Cunningham is the unquestioned go-to player following Bojan Bogdanovic’s departure, and is in the midst of his best stretch of basketball. So is James Wiseman, who contributed six points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in 19 minutes on Wednesday.

“We’re coming together as a team,” Duren said. “We’re all feeling good playing, I feel like everyone is catching their rhythm. You see (Sasser) coming in and doing his thing, Big Wise coming in and doing his thing. ... Everyone’s contributing in their own way. That’s helping us.”

It’s also helped the Pistons that Williams has been more intentional with his rotations, reducing the instances he’s fielded lineups with five bench players or four bench players with one starter. Cunningham and Ivey are being staggered more frequently. They’ve played big minutes when needed. Ivey logged 39, and Cunningham 38 in their 118-112 win over the Nets.

Detroit’s second unit struggled in the first half on Wednesday. Stewart along with Sasser, Wiseman, Quentin Grimes and Evan Fournier closed the first quarter with a five-point lead. Fontecchio replaced Stewart in the second quarter, and the unit suddenly fell apart — the Raptors took control with a 26-5 run that the starters couldn't slow.

Williams replaced Fournier with Stanley Umude, and the unit clicked again. The 6-foot-6 wing knocked down a 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer that gave the Pistons a four-point cushion. That was the start of their 30-17 run that clinched the win, in spite of Detroit finishing the game sloppily with six fourth-quarter turnovers.

“Much better in the second half, for sure,” Williams said. “That group got a bit stagnant with the ball movement. We were trying to post-up and the paint was crowded, and we were playing in late-clock situations, and then we started playing in the crowd and turning it over. I thought in the second half they had much better ball and body movement to allow for us to at least make their defense work.”

With 17 games remaining, the team has spoken often of closing the season with momentum. They’re out of playoff contention, but still have a chance to improve on last year’s 17-65 record.

“We talk about running through the tape as a team and finishing the year strong, so that’s kinda been my mindset these last whatever games it’s been since All-Star break,” Duren said. “Just running through the tape.”

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

Next up: Heat

Matchup: Pistons (12-53) vs. Miami (35-30).

Tipoff: 7 p.m. Friday; Little Caesars Arena, Detroit.

TV/radio: Bally Sports Detroit; WXYT-FM (97.1).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons finally look a bit competent. Here's what's working.