SUPERSTAR: Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham DOMINATES Fourth Quarters and Fuels WIN Streak

SUPERSTAR: Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham DOMINATES Fourth Quarters and Fuels WIN Streak

The Detroit Pistons improved to 6-2 with a fourth straight win over the Utah Jazz. And Kate Cunningham has been absolutely special. Today’s episode, we’re going to break down just how special K’s been in the fourth quarter. Let’s go. You are Locked on Pistons, your daily Detroit Pistons podcast, part of the Locked On network, your team every day. What’s the deal? Welcome back to another episode of the Locked On Pistons podcast. Per usual, I am your host Kahill. I’ve been covering the Detroit Pistons for the last four years for the Lockdown Network. Been a credential media member over the last three years. I appreciate all of you guys who make Locked On Pistons your first list of every single day. We are free to develop on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at Locked On Pistons. Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on. That’s another great way to support the podcast. And today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to fandel.com to get started today. Later on, we will discuss this Jaylen Dur that we are witnessing this year is absolutely going to be worth the max rookie extension. Um, and then also we’ll discuss Stu and Assar Thompson. Both of them just coming through defensively along with Ron Holland. Few guys that we’re going to shout out in this game and how well they’ve been playing. But man, look, the Pistons win this game. They beat the Jazz 114 103. They’ve won four straight now. They are now six-2. And it feels so long ago that people were panicking after the first game, that first loss to Chicago Bulls. And now the Pistons are currently second in the East. They’re six-2 and they are playing very good basketball um on both ends of the floor. They’re playing very well. Um, so it was a great win, but there is a player, and I think we all know who he is. The superstar, the face of the franchise, the franchise player, the the what? The paradox. Is that what the Twitter account tweeted out? Uh, smooth criminal, whatever nickname you want, Icewood, whatever the name you want to use for K, Cunningham, the nickname you want to go with. That dude was so special tonight that we can’t even I I can’t even talk about this from just like a team perspective. We need to spend an entire segment just talking about the Pistons superstar that is Kade Cunningham. Guys, I I don’t think PE like what Kade did in this fourth quarter was so special. Every single time he touched the ball in the last three minutes, he was getting MVP chance. Kade was so special in this fourth quarter. I witnessed him take a heat check three from the logo. I have never in Kad’s five four years, five years. I I’m confused now whether it’s four or five year. I think it’s five years now. Either way, I have not I have never seen Cade take a heat check three in my life. Cade was so hot that he was crossing half court. He on one possession, he let a three fly, another three fly, and then try to go to the rim and get another highlight. Like, he had a full possession worth of heat checks just because of how special he was in the fourth quarter. Going into the fourth quarter tonight, he had not played well. He was shooting five of 13 from the floor. He had 12 points. Wasn’t efficient. The Pistons were winning, but Kade wasn’t having the best game. And then in the fourth quarter, this dude turned into the best player in the NBA in the fourth quarter. 19 points in the fourth quarter. 19 points. He played the entire fourth, by the way. Entire fourth. Again, the Jazz try to make it close. Yet again, another team tries to make it close in the fourth quarter versus the Pistons. And the Pistons best player just slams the door shut on him. This is now like the third or fourth game Kate has done this where the game is close. The Pistons have been in control majority of the game, but then the other team tries to make it close. They cut it to a six-point game, seven-point game, five-point game, and then K just slams the door shut on him. 19 points on eight of 15 shooting, five of nine on twos, three of six from deep, 63-2 shooting. He was I what I love maybe the most about the fourth quarter, by the way, from Cade is that he went back to his midi. I I know that I’ve asked him questions before about trying to have a better shot selection, getting to the rim more and taking more threes, and that is true, but Kade is still a mid-range assassin assassin, and he should still be going to that. That should still be something a main part of his game. I like the fact that, and he’s spoken about how it’s helped him, how he’s taking more shots to the rim, it’s increased his efficiency. That is all true, but he still is a mid-range assassin and he still needs to go to it when everything else maybe is not there for him cuz he can just destroy guys from the mid-range. That’s what he did in the beginning parts of this fourth quarter. He was just getting to the mid-range raising up over guys and just blooding in their face. But I kind of want to move on from just this fourth quarter because yes, he ended up with 31 points with 19 of them happening in the fourth quarter. turned what was going to be an inefficient bad night into just an otherworldly night. He finished with 31, 10 assists and three rebounds, which again, three turnovers. We are continuing to see him keep the turnovers down. I said last podcast he had had one zero one turnovers a game over the last four or so games. And I was like, look, you can he’s going to have more than this. You can live with three turnovers. It’s once you get to the fives, the six, that’s when it’s like, okay, you’re doing too much. Three turnovers, that’s taking care of the ball. That’s a three to one turnover ratio with 10 assist. You take that. He’s taking much better care of the basketball and the postgame presser. Uh JB spoke about this. He said he feels like he’s just making this more simple read. He’s not trying to hit the home run pass every single time. If you guys have been subscribed to the Substack, which by the way, there’s a 50% off deal subscriptions. Today’s the final day to get $3 a month or $30 a year for that. I’ll link it down below. But if you’ve watched some of the breakdowns over on the substack, I’ve broken this down multiple times where Cade, a lot of his turnovers come from him trying to make the home run play to the role man. He’ll try to look off the weak side defender with his eyes and try to dish this pass to this roller. And sometimes it does result into a crazy play, but then other times he’s kind of forcing when that that simple pass to the wing is wide open. You can get a three, you can get an easy pass. It doesn’t have to be a home run every time. So, I thought that was a great point from JB and you’re definitely seeing him get rid of the ball faster versus traps versus blisses and and just being smarter about this. But, I want to move on. Like I said, just move on from this fourth quarter. Let’s look at the fourth quarter from the whole year with Cade, guys. If he keeps playing like this in the fourth quarter, he will look, it’s very early in the season. I get it. If he keeps playing like this in the fourth quarter, he will win clutch player of the year. He is averaging 12 points a game in the fourth quarter. You guys know how insane it is to average double digit points in any quarter. You know what would happen if you averaged double digits in every quarter? You’d average 40 a game. Averaging uh double digits in any quarter is crazy. He’s averaging 12 in the fourth. He’s shooting 50% from the field in the fourth. He’s getting to the free throw line three times a three times a game in just the fourth quarter. He’s shooting what is it? 45% from three in the fourth, he has a true shooting percentage of 62% in the fourth quarter. And not only is he balling individually in the fourth quarter, these have all been very critical buckets. The ma not the Magic game, the game I’m forgetting who was the game after the Magic. Let me Oh my goodness. Why am I forgetting who they just played? Well, we can start with the Jazz game. This game right here. Close the door on them. Shut the door. Close it out for the Pistons. These points are mattering if my phone will load so I can remember. Who was it? Oh, the Grizzlies, right? It was the Grizzlies. Grizzlies game slam the door shut on them. The Mavericks slam the door shut on them. The Magic. I know it’s it was a blowout, but in the second half, he slammed the door shut on them. He is playing like a superstar. An absolute superstar in the fourth quarters. And I know I’ve brought this up before, but we’re gonna we have to keep bringing it up as long as he continues to look this special in the fourth quarter. Last year, a lot of fans complaints was how he played in the fourth quarter. We talked about this last episode. I believe he averaged around six points a game, shooting like 41% from the field in the fourth quarter last year. It was something he needed to improve on. He spoke about it in his exit interviews that he wanted to improve his conditioning. Tan Leightton spoke about all offseason that they were going to work on his conditioning all summer so he was ready in the fourth quarter to attack and carry the load. JB Biggerfs talked about it all off seasonason. We heard it all off seasonason and now we are seeing it play out. He has been coasting through the first few quarters. He lets his teammates go after it. Now, I’m not saying he’s purposely missing shots. He’s not purposely missing the shots. You’d love to see him have like a better overall game where he’s consistently this good throughout the entire game. Yeah, you’d love to see that. I’m sure we’re going to get that eventually. We’ve had gotten that actually a lot the last few games. This game not so much. But you guys get what I’m saying. A full four quarters of great basketball would be fantastic. But what Pistons fans wanted and what everyone wanted to see from him was be that superstar closer in the fourth quarter. Deliver the Pistons wins. Come through in the fourth of close games and deliver them wins. And he has absolutely done that to start this year. He has been the best fourth quarter player in the NBA this year so far. Sort it’s a very small sample size right now. It’s only been eight games, but he has been the best fourth quarter player in the NBA so far. And it’s not close to me. He has been special special in this fourth quarter. And also, by the way, while being impactful defensively, who what other how many other franchise play how many franchise players can you count on a single hand that is doing that kind of thing offensively and then also being engaged, being impactful defensively? How many guys can you count on the on one hand that can do that? The Pistons have one of them. He has been spectacular the last few games. Absolutely fa fantastic. I just saw a tweet that was going over his averages over the last just four games. I really want to pull that. I could pull the numbers up myself, but this is it would uh my PC would start. You guys know how my PC is. I I need to upgrade my PC badly. It’s uh it’s not been uh it’s not been great. But how about this? We’ll just go over his last four games and then you guys can figure out the averages since I I’ve lost the tweet. Last four games, 31 points, 33 points, 21 points, 30 re or 30 points, 10 assists, 18 assists, eight assists, 10 assists. He is playing spectacular. This is the superstar the Pistons have. This is the top 10 basketball player that we are waiting to see this year. It’s being delivered right here in front of us. Six and two Pistons. A lot of it has to do with their superstar player closing them out. He’s been just incredible, man. Incredible. Let me know what you guys think about Cade’s season so far, how he’s played in the fourth quarter to start the year. Let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter, Cuckoo Hill. Coming up, Jaylen Darren. Man, look. Actually, I have Kad’s averages real quick. 28.8 points a game, 11 and a half assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.8 steals, 1.0 blocks on 50% shooting over the last four games. special Jaylen Duran though. This Jaylen Duran right here, cinema. Pure cinema. Is he worth the max if he plays like this? I’ll let you guys know now. Absolutely he is. Today’s episode’s brought to you by Gusto. Let’s be real. 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So I want to thank you guys again for making Lockdown Pistons your first listen of every single day. Free on all your podcast platforms. Hit that subscribe button to the YouTube channel. Leave us a five star review, whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on. Check out the description down below for the sub stack. Again, this today’s the final day that the 50% off deal is active. You can get a membership or subscription, I should say, for just $3 a month or $30 for the year. You guys get all the written breakdowns, all the film breakdowns I have coming to you guys almost daily over on the substack. We’ll have another breakdown coming to you guys over this game. Uh hopefully within the next 24 hours, but I’ve been a little busy, so they’ve been taking more close, I’d say closer to 36 hours. Um, but I’m g try to get out in the next 24 hours. Um, check out the link down below. But Jaylen Duran, man, he has been something. You should really, the Pistons young core in general has been something else. I said before the year started that banking on every single young guy taking a step forward is going to be tough. You don’t see it happen very often. Every single guy taking steps forward, it’s tough to see it. You may get one guy, one and a half, maybe you may have a guy that gets slightly better, but nothing crazy. But banking on all of your young core, taking a jump in one season, it’s just unre, it’s usually, history tells us it’s just unrealistic. Not for the Pistons, apparently. The Pistons are seeing Cade play well, but he took his jump last year. He’s taking he he’s been great this year, though, obviously. Then you got Stu, who we’ll talk about later. Then you have Assar, who we’ll talk about later. You even have Ron, who we’ll talk about later. And now you also have Jaylen Duran playing the best basketball of his career and being the most impactful he has ever been in his career to this point. This is the best we have ever seen Jaylen Duran play in his career. In this game, he had 22 points and 22 rebounds. He was on track for a a 2020 game by halftime. By at halftime when it h his his stat line, you were like, “Oh, yeah. The uh 2020 game’s on its way. He already had 18 and 10 at halftime. He was dominating this.” The stretch he had at the end of the second quarter, which was led really. started with Stu having like backto backto back blocks, then Assar having a block, and then Ryan getting a steal, and all of them were finishing with Jaylen Duran dunks or layups or euro steps at the rim or a floater in front of the rim, which we’re going to talk about. He was dominating the Utah Jazz. Fantastic game from him. And look, listen, man. You guys know that this is something I don’t want to look at the game. Not just the I want to look at the regular season stats. That’s why I want Pivot Paid. Show me the the regular season stats. Thank you. One of the things about Jaylen Dur that we’ve brought up last year. That was a topic last year was that the team looked better. The team was outperforming with Stew on the floor versus Duran on the floor. And that was largely because defense, right? The offense was good, but the defense wasn’t, you know, as good. So there and the defense was so good with Stew on the floor that the team was better with him on the floor last year. We talked about that sample and and we talked about all offseason how that had to change if Darren was going to be worth this money that he wants that he if he was going to be the future of the Pistons. That has to change. The team has to be better with him actually on the floor and they can’t have this, you know, this vastly different defense when he’s on and off the floor. He has to be able to hold his own. Fellas, ladies, all listeners of the podcast, boy is he answering that question. He is dominating that question. He He is blowing it out of the water. That’s not even a question. As of right now, through eight games, the Pistons have been 20 points better with Jaylen Duran on the basketball floor. They are beating opponents. I want you guys to listen to this. The Pistons are beating opponents by 14 points per 100 possessions with Duran on the floor. When he’s off the floor, they’re losing by seven points per 100 possessions. So really, they are 21 points better with him on the floor through eight games. The defensive rating through eight games with him on the floor is 102.9 or 107.7, I’m sorry. 107.7 with him on the floor. when it’s off the when he’s off the floor 115.8. The defense has actually been better with him on the floor this year by a large amount. And the and the offense has been 14 points better with him on the floor. He has been dominant. He has dominated the paint on both ends of the floor. He’s just flat out dominated the paint on both ends of the floor. Now, I think you’re seeing something pretty interesting with him and Stu playing together. I’m not I’m still not the biggest fan of it because it turns Stu into this volume three-point shooter. And last game we saw him have to take eight threes, which he only made two of them. Steu’s not I love Stu, but he’s not and he’s not a high volume three-point shooter. You don’t want that to be what he’s doing. And then in this game, he took six threes, only made two of them. Stu is good for three a game, maybe four a game, something like that. But when he’s playing the four next to Duran, while the defense and the rebounding is is demonstratively just crazy. The half court offense at times can bog down because teams are helping off of Steu and they’re kicking it out to him. And I like the fact that Steu’s letting it fly. He has to. But if you if you’re falling into the defense allowing you to funnel eight, nine threes to stew within the half court, the defense is probably saying, “Okay, we’ll take that. We’re winning that.” So that’s my that’s the reason why I’m still not the biggest believer in it. But I bring it up to say having Stu next to him obviously helps him defensively and he’s credited having better defenders around him as helping him become a better defender. But I want to give him credit, too. He has become a much more engaged defender. JB Bigger Staff in the presser again shouted him out because he said that they had a switchheavy uh scheme against Larry Markin on the perimeter when he’d come off these pin downs when he come off these off off screens with another big. They were switching it and Luri did not have a good game in this game. Li shot just what what was he? He shot three of 12 from deep. Overall, he shot eight of 12 and he credited JD for being really locked in on these switches. And he has been much more locked in this year. I still believe when he’s pushed out to the perimeter, that’s his weakness. But not no player is perfect and he still is just 21 years old and he has to get better at that. Yeah, but I think he at this point he’s shown me a work ethic to believe that, okay, he’s trying to get better at this and we’ve seen these incremental improvements defensively. So my overall point is is playing next to Ste helps him. Playing next to Assar for a full season helps him. Playing next to an engaged Cade on defense helps him. So now the defense with him on the floor, not only has he improved defensively, especially around the paint, he’s playing with better defenders. We are making his life easier and the defense is really good with him on the floor. And then when that’s the case, when he is passable defensively, which he’s been more than passable defensively this year, but my point is when he’s just passable defensively, that’s when you can just focus on what he’s cooking up on offense. Guys, what we are what we are watching from him offensively is special stuff from a a fiveman in 2025. what he is doing off the dribble on these dribble drives tonight. The way he moves at that size, with that strength, how agile he is, how light he is on his feet, the balance that he has. It’s special stuff. You don’t see it from every It’s not many bigs that can do it like him, who is as athletic and as a agile as he is. We saw him go to euro steps multiple time in this game around the basket to finish at the rim. We saw him even go to a he drove from the free throw line, stopped short, went for a one-legged floater and hit it. We saw him just overpower guys on dribble drives, just finished through them. We’re seeing him average double the amount of free throw attempts as he did last year. Last year he averaged 3.1. This year he’s averaging 6.1. He’s doubled his free throw attempt volume through eight games because of how aggressive he is at the at driving to the basket. He’s not turned the ball over as much. And oh yeah, by the way, I know he he he really beat himself up in the presser for missing two free throws. It was he made fun of himself a little bit, but he was being serious. He missed two tonight, but by the way, he’s shooting 83 plus percent from the free throw line to start this year as well. So, he’s getting fouled way more because teams can’t stop him going to the paint and he’s making his free throws. When he gets to the paint, he’s dunking on everybody. When he’s not dunking everybody, he’s using some clever footwork and balance to go to a a a euroep finish over, guys. By the way, his touch around the rim has been fantastic. It’s been fantastic his whole career, but his his finishing and touch around the basket has been exceptional. He has been Look, man. There’s no other way to put it. He’s been great. He has been absolutely great. This is exactly what you want from Jaylen Durren. Him and Cage pick and roll obviously is one of the best in the entire NBA. They have great chemistry. But when Jaylen Durren is getting fed the ball with six, seven seconds left in the shot clock and the offense is broken down, play broken down, and now he can just iso another fiveman at the top of the key and they’re either too small to deal with his power or too slow to deal with his quickness or they foul him and now he’s going to the free throw line game two points that way as well. How do you like deal with that? And again, he’s 21 years old. He is 21 years old and this is what he’s doing. I can only imagine in four years at 25 what he’s going to be doing. It’s crazy what he’s doing offensively. And look, I’m going to make this clear. Obviously, I’m sure he is probably going to have some games coming up where maybe he doesn’t look the greatest defensively. Maybe a stretch five gives him some problems. Probably will. He has to improve still defensively, but he’s already showed improvement. He’s not perfect defensively. There’s areas he still has to improve upon, but he’s improved already from where he was last year defensively. He’s more engaged from the get-go, more engaged, locked in, defending the paint. And then offensively, he’s doing something that is rare is rare to see from your fiveman. give you guys an example or give you guys a better understanding of just how good he’s been as a driver this year. As a driver. Last year on drives, he averaged 1.04 points per 100 possessions. Or not per 100%. I don’t know why I always say that. 1.04 points per possession. All right. 1.04 points per possession this year. So far to start this year, I this might be the Piston’s most efficient offense. I have I’m going to go look through this. We’ll talk I’ll give you guys the exact numbers in the next podcast, but a Jaylen Duran drive might be the Piston’s best offense. He is averaging 1.41 points per possession on drives this year. His true shooting percentage on drives is 74%. Like you want to what? This is probably the craziest part. His free throw attempts per field goal attempt is 1.43. He is drawing a free throw on more than 50% of his drives. Along with being having incredible finishes on his drives, I’m not joking. We I’m going to dive into this. I’ll have an answer for you guys next podcast. Jaylen Duran drives might be the Pistons most efficient offense. I like, no joke, it might be their most efficient offense. That’s how good he’s been as a driver. It’s crazy. This Duran right here is worth the rookie max. He is worth 30 plus million dollars if this is how he’s going to play. He’s been He’s been great. He’s been He’s been absolutely great. And by the way, I know I kind of hit it on hit at it, but um didn’t really dive further into it. Obviously, he’s like one of the best rebounders in the league, one of the best offensive rebounders in the entire NBA. The Pistons are a tremendous um putback team, tremendous rebounding team. Yeah, Osar does a good job for his position and so does Steu and Cade, but Duran is just dominating the glass. So, all that stuff we just spent what, eight minutes, nine minutes talking about. Oh, and also he just is one of the best players on the glass as well in the league. Like he he’s playing like this, man. I mean, he’s he’s worth it, bro. He He’s He’s This is a fantastic season from Durham, bro. He’s having a great start. Don’t know what else to say. He dominated the Jazz tonight. Like, just completely obliterated them. Let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter, Cuckill. How do you guys feel about how Jaylen Durren has been playing this year? Do you guys feel like if he continues to play like this, he is worth the rookie max, he’s worth 30 plus million dollars a year? Let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter Cooko. Coming up, it’s not just Jaylen, Dur, and Cade who are balling out. The rest of the young core has been showing up and showing out as well. We’ll break it down coming up. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you missed the start of the game and want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets in everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com, sign up today, and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. And again, new customers get $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Sign up at fandal.com. Play your game with FanDuel today, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. So, I want to thank you guys again. Make locked on Pistons your first listen every single day. We’re free and available on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at Lockdown Pistons. Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on. That’s another great way to support the podcast. Like I said, it’s not just JD who balled out. It’s not just K Cunningham who balled out. The Pistons young core, this is about as good as you could have expected, right? Like I I think this is about as good as you could have expected a development to happen early in the season. I mean, the Pistons are six and two. They’re six and two. They’re second in the East right now. It’s very, very early in the season, but they’re having a fantastic start to the season. This is their best start since the 2008 2009 season. Do you guys remember what happened that that season? I actually we’re not even going to bring up what happened that season. Just know that. How old was I? Was I nine? How old was I? No, I was 10. Yeah, 10. 10-year-old Coup was crying on the way home to the from the bus stop when uh I was told what trade had went down. But anyways, we don’t need to bring that up. Um, this is the this is their best start since then. And we can we can start with any other of the young guys. We’re I want to start with Stu actually. So, they said he had three blocks officially. They must have took one away because initially he had four blocks in the first half alone in just the first half. Like I’m not joking when I say Stu might be the best rim protector in the NBA right now this year. As through eight games, he might be the best rim protector in the league. I mean, he’s only playing he’s only playing 24 minutes a game. The dude is averaging two and a half blocks a game in 24 minutes a game. You know how absurd that is? Two and a half blocks in in less than 25 minutes a game. I mean, that’s just ridiculous. that that I mean that’s that’s absurd. It’s just absurd. Like I I don’t know. I I like I don’t know what to tell you. Like it’s crazy. He’s been anytime someone tries to go after him at the rim like it’s it’s guaranteed a block it feels like. And the best thing about it is that so many of And I don’t know if Steu actually I should ask actually I will ask him about this next game I’m at. I think I’m add another game this week after a game if I if he’s one of the guys that that come post game. Um, Steu’s block stay in bounce and I saw somebody I think it was actually D. Lee who we just had in the podcast a few like last week for this preview. Um, I saw someone tweet that who is it that they were saying has the Dwight Howard syndrome. Is it Bona of the Sixers that they were I forget who it was. It’s a young big that was just it’s just swatting shots but he’s swatting them out of bounds. And the Dwight Howard syndrome when they say that that Dwight used to and I feel like it was effective. I feel like it it sent a message and it did what he was accomplishing. But I understand why people, you know, bring this up, but Dwight used to block shots so like aggressively. He would purposely like block the shot so hard to send it into the stands. give you no chance of getting a rebound or getting a transition attempt just to send fear and let you know don’t try it again like if you keep like this is what will happen and I do feel like that worked for Dwight like in his prime people forget how great prime prime Dwight was by the way um but like yeah I do feel like it worked for him now it would have maybe have helped if he kept him in bounds and they got the half fast break opportunity sure but anyways my overall point here is a lot of ste’s blocks stay in bounce I don’t know if he’s doing it on purpose. I want to ask him, but that it leads to it feels like every single time a fast break point for the Pistons. Whether it be alleyoop for Ron or Assar or Ron finishing with a dunk or Assar kicking out to a Duncan Robinson three or K getting all it’s like it’s such a momentum changing play. Isaiah Stewart block. And Isaiah Stewart block is like like when you play Madden and they have like the the momentum bar at the top of the screen. You get a sack and all of a sudden your players your opponent’s player art is all going crazy. It’s you can’t even see what’s happening. That’s what happens when Steu gets a block. Ste gets a block and all of a sudden everyone on the floor with the Pistons get plus 10 attribute ratings and and they just go crazy. That’s what happens. So it’s just like electric. Um he played a great game. Stew continues to be extremely good and just again like I said maybe the best rim protector in the NBA. Then you got Assar who just quietly quiet I feel like quietly ends the game with 18 points on seven of 12 shooting, seven rebounds, four assists, goes four of six from the free throw line. You will take four of six. I will take actually I won’t say you. I will take four of six. 66% from the free throw line is 20% better than what he’s doing right now. is 46%. 66% would do worlds of difference for the efficiency he’s doing right now with how easily he’s drawing free throws. I’ll take it easily. I’ll take it. Um along with a steal and a block in this game. He was uh where is it at? He was a plus 22 in this game. Team high. Quiet game. I I mean it felt like a quiet game at least to me. He got super aggressive as a driver and a slasher in that third quarter. Really started to go after the Jazz and started to make them pay. Had some really nice finishes. got to the free throw line, played really well. He absolutely had Keiante George in hell the entire game. Like he was fullcourt pressing him the entire game. There was a in the first quarter, Assar had a play when they inbound the ball to Kee George after the Pistons made a basket. He had he catches the ball off the inbounds and is just holding it like down. He’s trying to jab Assar, get him off him so he can dribble up the court. And Assar is literally, it looked like a 2K play when you start spamming X and your player’s just like constantly poking down with his hand. Asar just poked at the ball like twice, knocked the ball loose a little bit, then poked it away from Ke, picked it up, and then just dunked. Like it was a it was an insane play. Like dude, like how? But he was pressuring him the entire game, fullourt pressure, and only finished the game what, three fouls in this game. Yeah, three fouls. His defense was absurd in this game. Just the on ball pressure was crazy. And then he what he’s bringing you offensively. I mean Assar has been so much better offensively this year getting to the basket. He’s been so comfortable with his handle. He’s not turned the ball over like that. Asar is having such a great year. He’s breaking out this year. And then you have Ron Holland who doesn’t play as much as the other guys but played 27 minutes or 28 minutes in this game. Had 9.6 rebounds for assist four of seven shooting. Just again gets to the free throw line uh a decent amount. is he didn’t get to the free throw line this game, but my point was that he gets he’s so aggressive getting to the basket that it feels like either you have to follow him or he’s has such good touch once he gets there he’s going to finish. He’s electric in transition. He’s a dog defensively. Continues to be electric defensively. He had two steals and a block between Assar Dur or no Assar, Ron, and Stu. They had three steals and five blocks between the three of I mean like they’re just those three guys just set the tone defensively for the Pistons and they’ve all been so good and you’re seeing this development from all of the Pistons young court so far. It’s it’s crazy. I like again I I didn’t know if it was possible to see like development from everyone after one off season after a single offseason, but you’re seeing it. These guys are looking great and they’re six and two and playing extremely well. They are looking like one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. They I mean they’re playing really good on both ends of the floor. So, let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter, Cuckoo Hill, how you guys are feeling about the Pistons and their young core and how they’re playing. They’re trying to go for seven and two. They should go seven and two with the Brooklyn Nets coming up next. Let me know how you guys are feeling. But that’s all I’ve got for you guys today. Thank you guys for making lockdown Pistons your first list of every single day. Free up on all your podcast platforms. Hit that subscribe button to the YouTube channel. Leave us a fivestar review, whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on. And until next time, I will see you guys there. Stay safe out there and peace out everybody.

Detroit Pistons surge to second in the East as Cade Cunningham delivers superstar performances in crunch time. Can this young core sustain their breakout momentum and transform Detroit’s playoff hopes? Ku Khahil breaks down Cunningham’s explosive fourth-quarter scoring, Jalen Duren’s dominant two-way play—including a monster 22-point, 22-rebound night—and Isaiah Stewart’s rise as a rim protector. The episode highlights Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland’s defensive energy and key contributions, explores why Duren may be worth a max rookie extension, and examines the Pistons’ remarkable improvement on both ends of the floor. With defensive rating spikes, clutch scoring, and a 6–2 record, Detroit’s development trajectory takes center stage ahead of their matchup with the Brooklyn Nets. Can the Pistons’ up-and-coming stars maintain their elite play and silence preseason doubters? Tune in for a sharp analysis of Detroit’s exciting evolution.

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