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The NBA world is starting to take notice of the breakout stardom of Detroit Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham.
Detroit came up short against the Golden State Warriors, losing 107-104 at Little Caesars Arena. Cunningham led all scorers with 32 points and flirted with a triple-double by dishing eight assists and grabbing six rebounds. The 6-foot-7 point guard sparked the late rally for Detroit by scoring 18 points in the fourth quarter. High praise was paid to Cunningham's development from Warriors' forward Draymond Green.
“Cade is a special player. At 6-foot-7, handling the ball, shooting the ball, getting to his spot is special. Dennis (Schroder) was just saying he got a little bit of that Luka (Doncic) in him. You're not speeding him up, at all. He's going to get wherever he wants to go, when he wants to go there,” Green explained. “He's continued to grow in this league. He has this team playing good basketball and they're following behind him. I think he'll be an All-Star this year, definitely should be.”
Cunningham and the Pistons trailed by as many as 18 points to the Warriors. Detroit made a late push in the fourth quarter to try and steal the lead from Golden State. The Pistons cut the deficit down to three points with one final possession with four seconds left. Cunningham pulled off an intentional missed free throw in an attempt to gain one more possession. He inbounded the ball to shooting guard Malik Beasley for a three-point attempt that missed off the side, which sealed the loss.
Beasley finished the night with 21 points in a starting role for Detroit. The Pistons squandered a poor shooting night from superstar Steph Curry who scored 17 points on 5-21 efficiency from the field and 2-14 from three.
Steve Kerr is impressed with the Pistons development
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Warriors head coach Steve Kerr also shared positive sentiments of Detroit's growth this season. After only registering 14 victories last season, Kerr pinpointed the areas of progress that are working for the rebuilding Pistons.
“I don’t think players improvement can ever be one thing. It’s a lot of things. It’s the beauty of basketball; it’s a team game. What I’m seeing with Detroit is they’re playing great defense. I think J.B. [Bickerstaff] and Luke [Walton] and their staff have just done a great job of giving these guys confidence and building their identity,” Kerr explained during the pregame presser.
“I read they’re blitzing more than anyone in the league. They’re using these young legs, the athleticism, the length, all these lottery picks, they’re using them well and those guys are growing and gaining confidence. Within that, Cade is the ball-dominant distributor, scorer that they drafted him to be. You love seeing young players and young teams develop. It’s great for their city, it’s great for the individual players, it’s great for the league.
The Pistons have become one of the biggest surprises throughout the NBA. After hiring Bickerstaff this past offseason, his installed coaching of defensive focus and ball movement has Detroit with reasonable expectations of postseason hopes this season. They still have areas to improve, but the Pistons' ability to stay competitive through adversity shows how serious they are.
