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Facing elimination, the Detroit Pistons needed a major effort from Cade Cunningham to extend their season. And even with the Pistons down 3-1 on the series, there has barely been any separation between them and the New York Knicks, so it came as a surprise to exactly no one that Game 5 gave fans another barnburner — with the Pistons taking a 106-103 victory to send the series to a sixth game back in Detroit.
Cunningham has been brilliant all series long, and his incredible play continued on Tuesday night; he put up 24 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists in a nail-biter of a Pistons victory, and in so doing, made history and joined an exclusive club that only he and the legendary Oscar Robertson are a part of.
As pointed out by StatMamba on X (formerly Twitter), the Pistons star is the only player since The Big O in 1963 to average at least 25.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 8.8 assists per game in their first five playoff games. This is quite the arrival for Cunningham, who has proven that he is not just a regular-season merchant and is just as brilliant under the bright lights of the playoffs.
While the Knicks should still be favored to win the series, the Pistons can look forward to entering Game 6 buoyed by the momentum of their Game 5 victory. Cunningham isn't a one-man show anyway, with Ausar Thompson coming alive to score 22 points in a must-win game, and the games between the two sides have been so close that the Pistons might be the favorite to win the next contest at home, especially when Jalen Brunson may be less than 100 percent after tweaking his ankle on Tuesday night.
As long as Cunningham is leading the way, the Pistons have a shot at victory, and there's no reason to believe that he'll be slowing down from his historic stat-sheet stuffing ways to begin his postseason career.
Pistons turn up the aggression in Game 5 win over Knicks
After Game 4, the Pistons decried the officiating, saying that Tim Hardaway Jr. should have gone to the free-throw line in the dying embers of the game after a Josh Hart foul and that Cade Cunningham should be taking more free throws.
The Pistons got their wish; they continued to be aggressive and was rewarded for it. Cunningham went 11-12 from the free-throw line, while Ausar Thompson also went to the charity stripe and took 12 shots, although he made just half of them. They will need to carry this over into another elimination game come Thursday night at 7:30 PM E.T.
