After beating the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, the Boston Celtics have won three straight games and seven of their last 10.

At 46-23, the C's are just 3.5 games back of the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference and have legitimate NBA Finals aspirations.

And the path to the finals might have gotten a little bit easier on Thursday morning as the Pistons received some devastating news.

Per NBA Insider Shams Charania of ESPN:

Just in: Detroit Pistons star Cade Cunningham has been diagnosed with a collapsed lung and is expected to miss an extended period of time, sources tell ESPN.

Now, you never want to see a player sidelined and you never want to benefit from a players misfortune, but it's an unavoidable part of the game. And the simple fact is this: Cunningham missing time for Detroit opens up things for the Celtics.

With him sidelined, the Celtics have a better chance at the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and home court advantage in those playoffs. That, therefore, gives them a better chance at getting to the NBA Finals. It's unclear how long Cunningham will be sidelined for, but if he misses time in the playoffs, the Pistons are more susceptible to being beaten along the way.

As noted by Pistons Roundtable, Cunningham was injured in a fall in Tuesday night's win against the Washington Wizards. 

Just 24 years old, Cunningham was the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft out of Oklahoma State. A two-time All-Star in just five seasons, he's averaging 24.5 points per game and 9.9 assists. He also gets 5.6 rebounds and has turned into one of the most complete players in the league.

He finished seventh in NBA MVP voting a season ago.

With just 13 games left in the regular season, it's been a magical ride for Boston, who wasn't supposed to be this competitive without Jayson Tatum for most of the year and after trading Jrue Holliday and Kristaps Porzingis in the offseason.

Jaylen Brown has played at an MVP level, as evidenced by his 32-point performance on Wednesday against Golden State.

Boston will be back in action again on Friday night against the woeful Memphis Grizzlies. Tip-off time is set for 8:00 p.m. ET. The Grizzlies are 24-44 and set to miss the playoffs.

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