“Pistons are going to NBA Finals!” – ESPN reacts to Cade Cunningham shines to beat Pacers 122-117

“Pistons are going to NBA Finals!” – ESPN reacts to Cade Cunningham shines to beat Pacers 122-117

This is Live is presented by Cure Auto Insurance. Take a look at the face of that man, Kate Cunningham with 24 11 and six. Jade Navy a big part of it tonight. It did not come easy. Not by any stretch. But when does it in the NBA when you’re taking every team’s best shot, especially when you’ve been the front runners in the Eastern Conference? Quite literally from the jump. 122 117 the final here tonight. We welcome you inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse alongside Red C. I’m Johnny Kane. Uh I’ll tell you what, buddy. I know. And as talking with K just a few minutes ago, they’re going to look at some things and say we could have done some things better, but at the end, a win is a win is a win is a win. Times 13. Now, they’ve got to feel incredible about what they’ve been able to accomplish as a body of work over these last three, four weeks. Well, I’ll take it back even farther than that. It was two years ago, the Pistons were mired in what eventually became a 28game losing streak. Uh, right about this time, they were at about 13 or 14 losses. 13 in this place on this date two years ago. There you go. Uh, they didn’t win a game in the month of November. Well, they haven’t lost a game in the month of November. This time around, it’s been an incredible dramatic turnaround of fortunes. Uh yeah, they had to work hard tonight, had to uh persevere. Didn’t come easy, and I know they’re not happy about that. You heard, Kade. But at the end of the night, they’re going to be very happy that they have won 13 games in a row. They’re the hottest team in the NBA. They are 15 and two at this point with a chance to break the franchise’s record for most consecutive victories in a couple of more nights. You look at the numbers, you go through it all. Uh it’s just been fantastic. Kate Cunningham has been all world. Jaylen Durren as well. Uh it’s funny when you’re on a roll and when you’re winning like they are how the numbers stack up to show, you know, just where you are historically. I mean, they’re doing some things that the franchise has not seen before or haven’t seen in a very long time. And uh I’m really got glad they got this this win here in whatever fashion because man, can you imagine how disheartening it would have been had they not have Indiana been able to get all the way back. But congratulations to the guys. Yeah, congratulations because you know again even like you have to you know 82 games is you know it but 82 games is you’re never going to win 82 games. Right. Right. But to be 15 and two and some of them aren’t going to be the prettiest. Right. You’d love to play great from the opening jump all the way to the finish. And sometimes you’re gonna have to go through some ls, some stagnation, but you still figure out ways to win. This is a team to me like when you listen to Kade talking and even the business like it wasn’t a bunch of hoot and hollering after the game. It was like shake hand, shake hand, shake hand, shake hand. Let’s get in here. We’ll take a look at some film. We’re on to Boston. That to me shows me the maturation of a group that a lot of people might be like, man, pat yourselves on the back. Look what you guys have done. and they’re like, “It wasn’t great. We got to be better. On to the next.” Right? I mean, they’re not chasing streaks, but they’re a part of one right now. And that’s the beautiful thing about it. Uh they aspire for something even bigger than this. The winning streak is tremendous, terrific, uh unexpected, all of that stuff. And it’ll be unprecedented if they win another game, win the game in Boston. But they’re thinking beyond that, folks. This team wants to go beyond last year’s playoff sixgame loss to the New York Knicks. They want to get to the I mean, I think that the way they’re playing right now, they probably feel like they’re as much a favorite to win it as anybody. And I’m talking about the whole thing, but that’s so far away. They’ve got so much to do, so much more improvements to make. Uh I like the attitude coming out of this game. Keep it business. That’s it. Keep your focus. That’s it. No, and that’s it. And I think obviously that comes from the direction from the top too. JB Bigger’s not going to let them. You always want to celebrate victories for sure, but you’re not going to feel too good about yourself by by you know reaching and it’s not an arbitrary number, but you know the 13 wins like okay well let’s get to how do we get to 14. I will just say this quickly and then I want to get into the guys themselves and the performances tonight. But like you said, long way to go. We’re only a fifth of the way through the season. But in each of the last two instances that the Pistons put to I’m just saying these are just facts now. When they won 13 straight in the 0304 campaign, they hosted the Larry O’Brien. When they did it in 8990, they hoisted the Larry O’Brien. Something to think about. Uh let’s talk about Kate Cunningham. Will make our curado player of the game because he didn’t he wasn’t able to to extend his streak of 25 points and 10 assists to a seventh straight game. However, he had the biggest shot of the night in my opinion there in the final 30 seconds of the game and he was able to be a facilitator today. Also was active on the glass. Finished with a double double in that in that sense. Yeah. Let’s take a look, you know, at what he was able to do at a time when his team needed him to do it. This is what they mean by putting the team on one’s shoulder and handling the business. Business needed this bucket. So Kate Cunningham gets the rebound and he gets it down the floor. This is uh I’m sorry. This is earlier action with Kade finding people. We’ll get to that basket. We’ll get to it a little bit later. But, you know, he took his time a lot. Got into the painted area where he loves to get to and uh was able to knock down his shots. His three-point shot was not working for him tonight, but that was okay. He recognized that. So, he didn’t take too many of them. He kept trying to get it into the basket scoring area. Now, here’s that possession. Okay. They needed it. Needed it. And he’s taking time off the clock. They get a switch right here and now he’s got Matherin coming up on him. Three guys touched him on this play. Yep. Ends up with Matherin. He is not thinking about passing this at all. Indiana decided to go all out with one defender and they were made to play. Pay Min had five fouls at that point as well. Not only did Kade pick it push it up to a two two possession game, he took about 21 seconds off that clock which Indiana needed. Yeah, that was big. That was just the again to your point again when we talk about there are guys that have belief. It’s like hey coach I’ll I’ll handle it from here. Not everybody is able to pay it off. There’s been a lot of guys who have missed a lot of game-winning shots. Obviously that wasn’t the game-winning shot but you saying hey let me let me work it here and it doesn’t matter if it’s Nimhard guard me or Mather whoever three guys are going to get a good look at me. I’m still going to finish right at the rim going to get to my spot. Uh it was special to watch and obviously he’s been a huge part of what this team has been doing. But it wasn’t just Kate tonight. And again, we’ve talked about the depth on this team. What was it the first first quarter? I know. First half, he he played 11 guys. Yeah. Early. Yeah. 11 guys played in the first half. 12 the other night. Um and then he had an idea, a good idea of how he wanted to utilize guys uh in the second half. And one of those guys that seemed to emerge with his play in the first half was Caris Levert. Yeah. Had a heck of a game. Had a heck of a game. and uh was able to make the last two free throws to really put it out of reach for the for the Indiana Pacers. But that’s the depth of this team and that’s the unpredictable nature of this team. You don’t know where it’s going to come from. You don’t know who it’s going to be. Tonight it was Caris Levert playing a big prominent role. Yeah, right there. You know, he gets gets right there in front of the Pistons. See Kate sitting back just enjoying the show. But Levert, this guy, as much as we talk about this as he continues his climb back uh from being almost a year out of action for the Pistons and I know there was some obviously some Jaden Ivy supporters here being a West Lafayette kid. Uh again, 15 minutes the other night tonight, you know, right around that number. That was a big shot that he hit in this game. Uh and again, just the calm and the poise, right? He never We always talk about Kade not getting sped up. This might have been the play. I mean, that little up and under hoop, uh but he never gets sped up. just everything was in rhythm, didn’t force anything. Each game out, he’ll feel more and more comfortable. His confidence will really start to soar and he’ll know that he can do whatever he wants without fe, you know, without fear of reinjuring himself. Yeah. And that’s when Jay Nivy will be able to pick up where he left off on January 1st of this year when he was having a career season for the Pistons. One other guy I want to point out. Go ahead. Those are our Exfinity highlights, by the way. Go ahead. So, Ron Holland tonight, folks. I knew you were going there. You knew I was going there. You weren’t. You weren’t. I was. Ron Holland. Ron Holland played off the bench. He played 11 minutes. He did not attempt a shot from anywhere. The field, the three-point line or or or the uh or inside near the basket. Not one shot. But he had three rebounds, he had three steals, he had three assists, and he had three personal fouls. And he was valuable for the time that he was out there. He really was. The the young fellow tie-ups, the one the one with M uh with McConnell. Yeah. So, in a game that actually Here’s one with Seakum. Yeah. Yeah. In a game that ended up being very close, those are 50 balls. Everything I just said, three three. Y all mattered in the ultimate in the outcome of the game. That was a good one right there because I know we like watching McConnell play. Again, if he’s on your team, you love him. If he’s not on your team, you don’t love him as much. Uh but but you know, Ron Holland, I guess, somebody said, “You know what? I think I might start calling him Five Hour Energy.” The guy he wears five. Uh and obviously he brings it every night. I like what I call him. Wait. Oh, hold on. Crash was Grant. Oh, you were uh Mr. Hustle. Hustle man. Hustle man. That’s what it is. Hustle. All right. Hustle man. Well, they they needed everybody uh tonight, but JB Bicker staff uh standing by. Uh and I’m sure uh pleased with the overall result and always something to work on. Yeah, I mean again I would like for us to be greedier. Um you know I felt like in that fourth quarter and even in the third quarter we let our guard down defensively. Um you know we allowed them to make a run and you know again I’ll keep saying it like our defense is our identity. That’s when we’re at our best. uh in that second half, you know, we weren’t great defensively. And that’s the mindset we have to have. Like the mindset has to be, you know, we can’t ever feel full or satisfied. Um because, you know, every team you play, you know, they’ve got talent, they’ve got guys, you know, they’ve got champions over there. Um you know, so we got to do a better job um you know, just sticking with it and being who we are. Um being greedy for 48 minutes. I mean, I don’t want to be dismissive and I understand, you know, what the accomplishment is uh and how rare and unique it is, obviously. Um, but, you know, our our focus has to be on Wednesday, right? And then it’s got to be practice and film tomorrow. Um, but that’s where we’ll focus. Um, you know, again, we don’t take it for granted by any means because we know how difficult these things are to come by. Um, but you know, we got to get to tomorrow. I mean, no, it’s not surprising. Um, it’s who JI is. You know, the way that he can put the ball in the basket. Um, you know, the different ways he can do it. You know, he can get all the way to the basket. He can make shots. He can make shots off the dribble. Um, you know, so this is who he is. And like I said, you know, we’ll continue to get better. His minutes will continue to grow. Um, then you’ll watch him continue to help this team win games. Yeah, I mean, he just brings a different weapon. Um, you know, he’s a guy who can create his own shot. Um, you know, he can get to the free throw line. um you know he can score at all three levels and just you know they have to account for him and I think that balances you know him playing with Cade you know the different things that we can do and then defensively he’s a pest uh he does a great job being active with his hands um you know getting deflections getting steals those types of things to help you close out and win games Yeah, I mean I think that’s the you know those are the looks that you’re trying to find uh and the rhythm that we’ll try to find with him um is figuring out you know what sets you can run you know early offense you know who has the ball in their hands first who initiates but I think they both have the ability to do it And again, it gives you, you know, point of attack from different sides of the floor and allows one of those guys to be a secondary playmaker uh out there, too. So, I think the combination of them is good. Um, you know, we just got to make sure we continue to grow that. Thank y’all. All right, that was JB Bigger. Let’s take a look at uh our shot chart

“Pistons are going to NBA Finals!” – ESPN reacts to Cade Cunningham scores a huge Double-Double to beat Pacers 122-117