Cade Cunningham used to be particular on Tuesday evening. He performed like the most productive guard within the NBA. Of his 41 issues, he scored 37 of them in the second one part. He went 13-of-16 from the sector and a great 3-of-3 from the 3-point line. When the Detroit Pistons have been down, 108-103, to the Brooklyn Nets with 3 mins closing within the recreation, Cunningham scored his crew’s subsequent 10 issues.
It took him two mins to chop the deficit to 2. Then, abruptly, the Pistons have been now not in a position to fireside they usually ended up surroundings an NBA document with their twenty seventh consecutive loss in a season. Dorian-Finney Smith hit a back-breaking 3 to place the Nets up through 5 with 39 seconds left within the recreation. That used to be adopted through a 25-foot brick from Alec Burks popping out of a timeout.
What an agonizing defeat for the Pistons and their lovers. Cunningham’s efficiency used to be one of the most easiest in franchise historical past. In line with the Bally Sports activities Detroit telecast, he’s the primary Piston to attain 35 or extra issues in a part because the 1996-97 season. Tuesday used to be the second one time in December that Cunningham has scored no less than 40 issues. Nobody has finished that during a Piston uniform since Jerry Stackhouse in 2001.
Cunningham scored each and every means conceivable all the way through that two-minute stretch. He hit a stepback 3, absorbed touch for an and-1, and nobody from the Nets used to be in a position to stick in entrance of him. If the Pistons have been in a position to tug this recreation off, Cunningham’s efficiency would had been thought to be one of the most easiest of the 12 months.
As an alternative, the Pistons have turn out to be an embarrassing resolution to a minutiae query. The 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers best gained 9 video games that season they usually nonetheless didn’t string in combination 27 losses in a row.
Jalen Duren returned to the ground because the Pistons beginning middle. He publish 12 issues and 15 rebounds in what used to be best his 14 recreation of the season because of ankle accidents. The additional red meat within the heart used to be a receive advantages to the Pistons, however that and a career-high in scoring from Cunningham nonetheless led to a 118-112 loss to the Nets.
The Pistons weren’t meant to be contenders within the Jap Convention, alternatively, through bringing in Monty Williams, and Cunningham getting back from an harm that upfront ended his 2022-23 season, shedding sufficient to succeed in the document books used to be additionally no longer anticipated.
Whilst Cunningham has performed in best simply over 100 general NBA video games, he has finished sufficient to end up that the Pistons have been right kind in making him the No. 1 general variety within the 2021 NBA Draft.
The entrance of the lottery is one thing they have been meant to be able to keep away from this season, however there’s each and every reason why to consider that they’re going to once more be within the working for the highest pick out.
The Pistons have intriguing items and a emerging famous person in Cunningham. On Tuesday evening, he placed on a signature efficiency that used to be most probably the most productive of his brief NBA profession. Whilst the sport used to be no longer nationally televised, the sports activities international used to be being attentive to see if historical past could be set the day after Christmas, 2023.
Cunningham did his damndest to battle it off, however the ones 41 issues weren’t sufficient to stay the Pistons out of the historical past books.
