Led by a triple-double from Cade Cunningham, the Detroit Pistons secured their second straight win on the second night of a back-to-back with a 115-103 win over the Los Angeles Lakers at Little Caesars Arena.
The Pistons led by as many as 20, and held a lead consistently through most of Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers. A poor Detroit third quarter an disadvantageous whistle allowed the Lakers to chip away at the lead. Pistons fans had seen this story before. Another big lead blown, another game buckling under the pressure, and another loss.
Cade Cunningham had seen that game plenty of times in his four-year career. He’d lived through it. Tonight, he wouldn’t allow his team to lose.
Anthony Davis scored his 37th point of the night on an alley-oop for LeBron James’ 11th assist to cut Detroit’s lead to five at 103-98 with 4:10 remaining. The Pistons were wilting and completely out of their offensive flow because of a barrage of unfortunate whistles that knocked them out of rhythm. Instead of digging deeper, Detroit was getting frustrated and settling for awkward jumpers.
Cade said no more. He took the ball right at Austin Reaves into the paint and hit a difficult 8-foot turnaround jumper. After a Lakers miss, a Cunningham drive to the rim forced a foul on Rui Hachimura and Cade split the pair.
The Lakers used, what else, a foul call to claw back two points and make it a six-point game with 2:43 remaining. The two teams traded misses and Little Caesars Arena felt like it could slip away. Another miss and the Lakers could make it a one-possession game with momentum, and the refs, on their side.
Cade stood at the top of the key and calmy called out the set he wanted to run. As he called for a clear out on the left side of the floor, he was able to bait LeBron James into leaking over and doubling him. Cade calmly saw an open seam and whipped a pass to Jaden Ivey on the other side of the floor. The pass hit Ivey right in the pocket and he effortlessly sank the three to put the Pistons up nine. It was Cade’s 10th assist.
Detroit was then able to force a DeAngelo Russell missed three and Cade snatched away the rebound. It was Cade’s 10th rebound.
On the ensuing possession Cade manipulated the defense to create another solid open look in the paint for a curling Ivey. The Pistons were now up 11 on Ivey’s 26th point and Cunningham’s 11th assist.
It was ballgame. But Cade had another whirling layup in him for his 17th and final point. Cunningham finished with 17 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds.
Cade’s late-game heroics were only possible because his teammates played a strong game throughout. Ivey was able to put immense pressure on the Lakers defense and was able to get around every defender on his way to his 26 points.
Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart had really strong defensive nights for the second consecutive game, and it’s no coincidence they were both Pistons victories. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 19 and sank four of his three-pointers. Tobias Harris delivered a steady 15 points and seven rebounds, though he, like almost all his teammates couldn’t buy a three despite having several wide open looks.
But even when the threes weren’t going down, it was nice that the Pistons could manufacture offense and good looks based on running the floor, hunting for mismatches, and getting to their spots.