Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons have seen a complete turnaround since the playoffs began. The top seed in the Eastern Conference has struggled badly against a play-in team, the Orlando Magic. Jalen Duren’s production has completely disappeared, and Duncan Robinson and Tobias Harris aren’t enough. This led analyst Kevin O’Connor to rant about the Pistons and guard and his performance compared to his resume.
The Pistons lost Game 4, 88-94, in which Cunningham scored 25 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and eight turnovers. Ball security was an issue in the entire game, as they turned the ball over (20) twice as many times as the Magic (10) did. Highlighting that on his The Kevin O’Connor Show, the analyst said:
“The Detroit Pistons are now 3-1 in the season and Cade Cunningham is the No. 1 reason why? Seven turnovers per game in the series in Games 2,3 and 4, he has 24 turnovers. That’s the most turnovers over a three-game stretch in NBA playoff history, that’s not good enough from the guy who got top 5 MVP votes this year. He’s shototing 29% from three, he can’t shoot from outside.”
O’Connor believed that Cunningham did not have enough shooters around him, given his efficiency from the 3-point line. In Game 4, he shot 3-11 from deep, similar to the last game, where he shot 3-10.
The analyst put half the blame on the front office for not having enough pieces around Cunningham during the midseason trade period when wings like Trey Murphy and Michael Porter Jr. were rumored to be available on the market. O’Connor added:
“You can say that Cade doesn’t have enough support from secondary creators that Tobias Harris and Caris LeVert and Dannis Jenkins aren’t enough and you’d be right about those things. Teh Pistons should have made a deal at the deadline for somebody better than Kevin Heurter, it was obvious at the time.”
O’Connor stated that the franchise should have used its string of assets to “overpay” for a better wing who can shoot the ball well, something that the LA Lakers did. It’s all ifs and buts now for the Pistons. They are in a 1-3 hole, and the two All-Stars are yet to step up and lead the team out of the darkness. There’s just a glimmer of hope remaining for them in the season now.
“It’s not shocking,” Cade Cunningham opens up on losing back-to-back games
The Orlando Magic entered the series as underdogs and with a season filled with ups and downs. However, they did not let history affect them against the first-seed. After the Pistons lost Game 4, Cade Cunningham addressed the situation and offensive woes of the team and said:
“Going into it, I’m shocked. But the way we’ve been playing, that stuff is not good enough to win games. … It’s not shocking we’re losing games playing like that.”
The two teams will now battle in Game 5 on April 29, and the Magic will try to do it one last time to create history.
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