On Sunday, it was revealed that Detroit Pistons superstar Cade Cunningham was one of the finalists to be the NBA’s Most Improved Player this season.
Cunningham went from averaging 22.7 points, 7.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds last season to averaging 26.2 points, 9.1 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game this season. He was named an All-Star for the first time in his career and should ultimately be named an All-NBA player for the first time as well.
The former No. 1 overall pick has been incredible for the Pistons, but he looked far from incredible in the first playoff action of his career this past weekend. Playing against the New York Knicks in the first game of their first-round series, Cunningham was held to 21 points on 8-of-21 shooting from the field. He did notch 12 assists and six rebounds, but he also turned the ball over six times.
It was a shaky performance, and perhaps Cunningham was feeling the jitters of the moment. To be fair, the Knicks also threw everything they had at him.
“They sent bodies at me more than anything,” Cunningham told reporters after the game, according to Lorenzo Reyes of USA Today. “They made sure that every time I came off, they were checking me, they were sending bodies at me all the time, trying to get the ball out of my hands. They were on the same accord. I just wasn’t able to pick them apart enough.”
For three quarters of the game, Cunningham’s Detroit teammates picked him up as he set them up. The Pistons gave up a back-breaking 21-0 run in the fourth quarter that ultimately tanked them, though, and even Cunningham couldn’t bring them back from the brink.
The Pistons will have to move on quickly with Game 2 coming up, because Detroit doesn’t have the luxury of living in the past.
Ultimately, it’s up to Cunningham to clean his game up and to figure out how to keep up his ability to score while the Knicks focus on stopping him. And if he can’t do that? He needs to facilitate and take care of the ball better to give his teammates a shot at helping him win the game.
Cunningham may very well be the NBA’s most improved player, but the Pistons need him to be their most improved player in Game 2 so they don’t go down 2-0 in this seven-game series.
