Cade Cunningham helped lead the Pistons to a 23-point win over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday afternoon
Over the last two weeks, Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham has transitioned from the sidelines via injury and illness to return to the court for Detroit, but the process has not been smooth.
In his first two games back, Cunningham wore a brace over his right wrist, and his shot never found the reliable form that Pistons fans are used to. Though Cade’s shooting was a bit inconsistent, the All-Star guard still contributed mightily on defense and as a playmaker, so Cunningham has remained productive despite his lingering ailments, but Sunday afternoon’s 139-116 win over the Kings represented a breakthrough.
“It felt great,” Cunningham said after the game. “Felt great this morning, felt great last night, so it’s cool to be able to come out and I just wanted to be aggressive and get some reps up with it.”
Finally, for the first time since early January, Cunningham looked like his MVP-candidate self with a smooth 29-point, 11-assist effort against Sacramento at Little Caesars Arena. All game long, Cunningham put Kings guard Dennis Schroder through the spin cycle with clever pivots and feints to find the right shooting angle, finishing with a 59% mark from the field.
But in retrospect, Cunningham clarified that he believes the injury popped up on Sunday, Jan. 4 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“I think it started with the Cleveland game,” Cunningham said. “I had a bad fall and landed on it, and that was a back-to-back and then maybe I just got hit on it. I think it was just kind of a combination of both things that just made this area flare up like that. From there, it wouldn’t calm down for me.”
After the game, Cunningham offered a progress report on his wrist in light of his standout performance to give the Pistons’ their 33rd win of the regular season before reaching the All-Star break.
“Hopefully I can stay feeling this way,” Cunningham said. “It’s been hard. It’s been a battle as far as mentally, figuring out how I can help us with not liking how I felt shooting and constantly flinching when I was shooting because I didn’t know how I would feel. It was hurting sometimes. Sometimes I’d be able to release and the ball would come out fine. It took some time, but I think it was great reps for me. I think it was a great experience as far as finding ways to help the team.”
In that sense, Cunningham aimed to hone in on his defensive ability and playmaking skills even when his shot wasn’t falling. That’s a pretty nice fall-back plan to have in place, and it was a productive crash course in playing through the pain for the Pistons’ All-Star starter.
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