The Detroit Pistons still have a chance to hit the 60-win mark after their 26-point win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night
When Cade Cunningham went down with a collapsed lung over two weeks ago, the Detroit Pistons’ stranglehold on the top seed in the Eastern Conference suddenly looked much looser. But despite the All-Star’s absence, the Pistons stuck together and kept the team moving forward until Cunningham felt healthy enough to make his return tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks.
In what served as the Pistons’ regular season home finale, the team welcomed both Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart back into the lineup for their 137-111 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. The Pistons also held Fan Appreciation Day during the Wednesday night matchup, and the Detroit faithful had two major returns and a dominant victory to celebrate tonight.
“We took care of business,” Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after the game. “We did the things necessary, had a little bit of ups and downs in the first half but in the second half I thought we figured it out.”
Since Detroit was able to work with their usual starting lineup against their Central Division opponents, Cunningham was able to go through some familiar motions en route to 13 points, 10 assists, five rebounds, one steal and one block performance versus the Bucks. To make that effort even more impressive, Cunningham had to outsmart the on-ball defense of Ryan Rollins for much of the game, and the Milwaukee guard has established himself as one of the better point-of-attack defenders in the league, so Cade had to work for every bucket he scored or created on Wednesday.
Outside of Cunningham, the Bucks game presented a wide-open runway for Duncan Robinson to deliver several big blows from the perimeter in his 20-point performance. Robinson went 4-for-8 from downtown in what was a strong outside shooting effort from the Pistons as a whole with the team hitting three-point shots at a 47% rate on the night. Robinson even elevated for a big transition slam dunk at one point in the double-digit victory, and the Detroit bench went wild with enthusiasm for the veteran marksman.
As for Detroit’s other All-Star player, Jalen Duren hovered right around his season-long average with 21 points and nine rebounds on the night. JD fought for space in the paint and was able to provide the strength down low that helped Detroit establish a 14-rebound lead over the Bucks.
Coming off the bench, second-year forward Ron Holland had one of his more impactful games over the past month with 18 points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block. Holland was an aggressive defender and was instrumental in sparking multiple fastbreak transitions, and that’s where a good portion of the winger’s production came from against Milwaukee.
In terms of how the Pistons will handle Cunningham moving forward after he logged just 26 minutes tonight, Bickerstaff shared the team’s approach with managing the star’s return from injury.
“It will be dependent on how he feels tomorrow, how it looks versus Charlotte,” Bickerstaff said. “Again, don’t want to just throw him out there and expose him in a way, but want to do the right thing and get him some reps.”
Now standing at 58-22 on the season, the Pistons still have an opportunity to hit the 60-win threshold with two more games left on the schedule. Detroit will have one day off before taking on the Charlotte Hornets on the road in the team’s first meeting since the mid-season brawl that led to Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart’s suspensions. That contest is set to tip-off at 7 pm on Friday, April 10.
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