Cade Cunningham BULLIED the Magic 😤 + Nikola Jokic’s HISTORIC start to the season | NBA Today

Cade Cunningham BULLIED the Magic 😤 + Nikola Jokic’s HISTORIC start to the season | NBA Today

Huge clash. Two of the best in the East. Paulo Ben Carro facing off against Cade Cunningham in Detroit. These are the up and cominging Eastern squads here. This one started off a little fun. Ben Carro, he drives. Okay, so he’s fouled here, Chenet, by Tobias Harris. But look at the trash talk before the free throw. Here for it. So he says that Tobias was nice. And then he says that and then he misses the first. Okay. And then he misses the second. It’s getting awkward, but it’s all in good fun. He finished with 2411, seven assists for the game. The Magic enter halftime down by one. So, let’s go to the third. Magic up by three. Jaylen Suggs gets it in transition to test. Hold up. Wait a minute. What a block. Snatched. That’s what you want to see your best player do. And then Duncan Robinson come down and drop a fivepoint swing. We got to take another look at that. Oh my god. That’s what you call not being afraid of embarrassment. I’m going to get there. Get all tied at 70. In the fourth quarter, the Pistons up nine. Cunningham getting to work down low. Gets the bucket to go and one. Oh, and one’s on it. I yelled that at the TV every time now. Yay. Pistons up by 12 after. All right. Cuttingham finishing touches on this one. He finished with 30 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, and three blocks in this one as well after he recorded his second career game with 3010. No turnovers, by the way. Did we mention that? It’s already the most such games in Pistons history since turnovers became official in the late ‘7s. Tied for sixth in NBA history. So, uh, things are bright with the motorcade, who caught up with Vince Goodwill. Take a listen. Let’s go. Let’s go. Bounce, bounce, bounce. Good. Oh, yeah. Last year, you were just trying to get to playing meaningful basketball March and April. The expectations for this season I would think would be a little bit different. First round last year was an amazing experience for everybody. I think we all learned something from it. We all took something from it and we all have a chip on our shoulder because of that series. Brunson stops on a dime, launches. Oh yeah. Game six, Jaylen Brunson closes you guys out. Are you one of those people that you’ve watched the game millions of times, hundreds of times, or do you let it go, you watch it, and it just sort of sits with you? I’ve watched it a couple times. There’s moments where I I’ll fast forward when I know it’s something that I don’t want to see coming up, but I think it’s just part of the learning experience. I I feel like I have to see it just so I could learn from it more than anything. I think there was a lot that I took from it that has helped me get prepared for this season for sure. Oh, Ctingham. He scraped the sky on that one. even before the team got good last year. Kevin Durant said that you were legit. LeBron said that you were the number one pick for a reason. What does that mean to you to have your not even your peers, these are guys who have been doing it for decades give you that sort of validation? All those guys, man, I was a kid admiring their games. They’ve been doing it for so long. They helped teach me what it looks like to be a star at the NBA level. to have them giving me words of advice, to have them saying to the media like, “Nah, he can play.” It means a lot. I’m honored to be spoken of like that. Are you someone that feels like you can be a face of the NBA? I’m not the person that’s going to be putting my face on everything like I’m the new face of the NBA. I do my best to be a great face for this organization. My job is to, you know, be the best version of myself for the Detroit Pistons, for the Cunningham family, you know, and just represent. It seems like you have embraced Detroit almost from the moment that you were picked number one, like you’re not from the area, you’re not from the region, you’re from Dallas. What made you embrace this place immediately? I think the culture is number one. They love the sports teams. They love being from Detroit. That was something I wanted to be a part of and the the history of the Pistons is unmatched. This franchise is a legend of the NBA and to be a part of it while it was down to try to help bring it back up to the top. I thought it was a huge opportunity that I wanted to be a part of and I wanted to take on. It’s been a little bit of an uneven start to the season for Detroit, but I think last night was a reminder why Kade is a cornerstone of this franchise. Has there been one particular part that’s impressed you so far about his game? So, I was going through this thought exercise. Who are the best big guards in the NBA? Obviously, number one, Luca Donuch, but outside of him, he’s probably like the way he’s playing, he’s number two. 30 points, 10 assists, plus 27 from the floor. And this is why I say he’s a big guard, because he brings the ball up for Detroit. Check out these plays. He’s so good when they set him screens in transition. They call these drag screens. First, he makes himself available, and Stu takes patience to set the perfect screen. They get a good screen here, and then he’s downhill. Then, he makes advanced reads as a big guard. How many guys are looking based on his talents at Cade? Too many. About three or four. Then he drops it down again. 10 assists last night because he takes his time. No one can rush him. All right, let’s talk about his scoring on this double drag set where that means two post players are setting screens. He can not only get passes, another great screen right there, but he can dot you in the eye from three. Look at that closeout. It does not matter. He is unfazed. And last but not least, this big guard likes to play bully ball. Back it down in a mismatch. Tough loader and one son. the defense comes over, it’s too late. He is the heart and soul of Detroit. And I’m like, “Oh, he’s climbing up the ranks with his greatness.” And and the crazy thing is I love I love what you said about the big guards cuz it’s him. It’s Luca. It’s per cut his fingers out. Yeah, cuz it’s SGA cuz SGA is 66 and they all love go to the post. And if you want to throw Big Body Brunson in there, you can as well. I know he’s 6’2. But I’m saying the he’s just it’s the it’s the maturity of Kate Cuttingham. And I was with uh coach Bicker staff this summer right in Vegas and we got an opportunity to talk and that’s the the main thing he kept saying. He’s like perk it’s all about his family. It’s all about basketball. It’s all about film room. It’s all about and when you hear your coach raving and praising about you behind the scenes, not in your face, not in the public eye, you like damn he he like yeah he really got real. But but both the Magic and the Pistons, Brian, they’re sort of teetering on being judged differently, right? Not as the cute up and coming story anymore, but in an Eastern conference that really has some opportunity in it, they’re being judged on can they join the class of the East. Would you agree? Yeah, Detroit’s been sort of a eh start. Orlando start is flat out bad. This loss last night drops them to one and four. They made huge investments in the off season to upgrade their offense. They are in the bottom five in the NBA in offense, three-point percentage, three-point makes. Desmond Bane, the guy that they spent four first round drafts and Kentavius Caldwell Pope to acquire, is off to a rough start. He actually had his best shooting night of the year so far last night, but just 27% out of the gate. It’s not all about him. Their whole team is underachieving right now. So, their next couple of games are against Washington and Charlotte. They need to make a turn here because if they continue off to a poor start, the pressure is going to start mounting there. You got to talk about Nicolola Joic because he entered Wednesday with the triple double in every game so far this season. Chenet, he was looking to keep that streak ah ah ah ah alive against the Pelicans here and he reunited with his former teammate DeAndre Jordan. Look at how they greet each other. Very euro. I love you baby smile. Uh this did not make the Pelicans smile here. No. Anytime he’s backing people down, know that he is going to be a sleeper with his passing. 11 points, five rebounds, five assists, all in the first quarter. He was cooking. He was halfway to a triple double in the first quarter alone. Yes, ma’am. Absolutely correct. The Nuggets would go into half leading 53-47. The score is not important, but with these their big three is doing really is here. So, off the Pelicans miss, Jookic gets the rebound, launches it to Payton Watson, and then back to Jamal Murray for three. I mean, it looks like synergy. Good words. Great words. Great chemistry word of the day again off of Pelicans miss. A little bit of a theme here. Murray pushing it up in transition. Murray gets a three. Nails that one again. If they’re going to be getting out and running in that altitude is going to be problems to win the game. And Murray has started his season. He had to finish that with a dunk. Yeah, he had to. But not this year. Nicole Yic 2110 and 12. His fourth consecutive triple double. Nuggets win. And Yokano has four straight to triple doubles which ties Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook for the longest streak to start a season in NBA history. And after the game, he was asked about what makes it so effortless. What makes it look so effortless? At least it’s not effortless. I I think we need to stop saying that. Uh I’m still I’m still running like other guys. I’m still jumping like other guys. you know, sometimes just the the the game goes my way and uh and I have a good night like today. I think it was okay night for me. Decent night, whatever. A good night for me. So hopefully it’s going to be like that in the future. I love that. He’s like, “Guys, stop saying it’s effortless.” It’s It’s not effortless. I’m exuding a lot of effort, but he’s a three-time MVP. He currently leads the league in rebounding and assists. And surprisingly enough, he’s never led in either category for an entire season. Maybe this is the year. Is Joic actually doing something differently, Brian? Yeah. So, David Adam, the new coach, really looked at last year and Joic had the highest scoring average of his career, which sounds good. He also took the most shots and played the most minutes and they just didn’t think that was a good trend because the Nuggets won seven fewer games than the year before. So, this year they want fewer minutes, fewer shots, more passing to his teammates. Uh, you mentioned Murray’s off to a great start. Aaron Gordon’s off to a good start. The result, nine fewer points a game, six fewer shots than he did last year, and number one in the NBA in assists. That’s a formula the Nuggets like a lot better. Perk, you said you’re the king of overreacting. I’m trying to be like a princess here, but tell me if I’m wrong here, okay, the best duo in the NBA is in Denver. The best duo is in Denver. Jokic is already averaging a triple double, and Jamal Murray, who has yet to be an all-star, which is wild to me, is leading their team in scoring at 27 points per game with J. being out. Call Anthony time. No, you’re right. Oh, wait. Wait. Sorry. Excuse me. You’re right. Louder. Wait. A little louder with your chest. You’re right. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. I think it’s a great surfer. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

On NBA Today, Kendrick Perkins, Chiney Ogwumike and Brian Windhorst discuss Cade Cunningham’s game, the Orlando Magic’s struggles and Nikola Jokic’s start to the season.

0:00 What has impressed you most about Cade Cunningham so far?
6:30 Orlando Magic’s poor start
7:18 How impressive has Nikola Jokic been to start this season?
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