Detroit Pistons star Cade Cunningham: “My 52 points? I can still improve a lot”

Not so long ago, exactly three years ago, Cade Cunningham had to endure a severe downpour in gray Detroit, a number 1 in the draft trapped in the misfortune of the worst team in the entire history of the NBA judging by its embarrassing streak of consecutive defeats: nothing less than 28the largest in a single season.

But the flood did not disturb Cunningham’s essence as an exemplary leader, who today torments his rivals and what he unleashed on the capital: 52 points plus 11 assists, an absolutely immaculate double-double without any losses in the Pistons’ victory on the Washington Wizards court in the second overtime (140-144). Trae Young He forced the first half and number 1 of the last draft AJ Dybantsa the second, but on Cunningham’s day.

Although reaching or exceeding fifty points has now become routine in this NBA of runaway scoring, what the Detroit star did had not been seen in almost 50 years, He became the first player since 1978 to score at least 50 points and 10 basket passes without losing any ball.

To also put his milestone in perspective, the 25-year-old point guard became the fifth player since the 1977-1978 season to record a double-double with 50 points joining michael jordan Moses Malone, Carmelo Anthony and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Cunningham left a deep reflection on how all the lessons learned during his career have led him to this recital.

“During my life, during my NBA career, I have seen many (defensive) coverages, many different games, scenarios and things like that. I have had games where I missed every shot, games where I lost the ball a lot, all those things. So I would say that all those lessons have been added to my knowledge. And I can still improve a lot, but tonight was a pretty good performance for me,” highlighted the Pistons star, with 16/25 in field goals and 3/5 in triples.

The Pistons finished the season of that unfortunate streak as the worst team in the entire NBA with a shameful record of 14-68 but two years later -last year-, they were Eastern champions of the regular phase.

After almost reaching the Conference Finals – eliminated in seven games against the Cavaliers in the second round – the team coached by JB Bickerstaff is third with 8-3 and is preparing to reach at least that prelude to the Finals under the leadership of the MVP candidate Cade Cunningham the star that has made the sun shine again in Detroit.