Detroit Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham played a decisive role in the team’s 12-point victory
When the Pistons tipped off against a familiar foe in the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night, Detroit was determined to follow a different script than in Wednesday’s four-point loss.
When the two sides faced off earlier in the week, the Bucks’ zone defense really ate up Detroit’s offensive attack and forced the Pistons into taking some bad shots. The Pistons were not exactly able to shoot over top of Milwaukee’s zone with the club’s best shooter, Duncan Robinson, out of the lineup due to a sprained ankle, and Detroit struggled to unlock the Bucks’ defense even without Giannis Antetokounmpo for most of that game.
But on Saturday night, the Pistons had Robinson back in the lineup, but more importantly the team was equipped with a new game plan to test the Bucks in new ways. Detroit sought to manipulate the Milwaukee zone through off-ball movement and finding pockets when available, and this recipe helped the Pistons coast to a relatively comfortable 12-point win.
Pistons Cruise To 124-112 Win Over Bucks Thanks To Cade Cunningham Double-Double
The Detroit Pistons obtained revenge after losing to the Bucks earlier in the week
How exactly were the Pistons able to do it? Take it from the Pistons’ floor general himself, Cade Cunningham.
“Move the ball, punch gaps, make them have to move around,” Cunningham said after the game. “It's hard to contain the offense that's moving around in the zone. And then I think our big guys, everybody did a great job offensive rebounding, getting us extra possessions and in the moment, one possession at a time, not getting comfortable with the lead, knowing that it's the NBA, leads can shrink too fast. So, I thought we had great poise and followed the game plan throughout.”
Against the Bucks, Cunningham put up 23 points, dished out a dozen assists and grabbed six rebounds to complement that output, sitting out the final several minutes once it was clear that the Pistons’ backups could guide the team to victory. Detroit head coach J.B. Bickerstaff subbed in a healthy amount of Pistons’ reserves for the final minutes, and that allowed for guard Marcus Sasser to make his season debut after recovering from a hip impingement.
“These are the best ones,” Cunningham said. “We move the ball around, everybody gets a piece of the action. I think we just played a great brand of basketball. We had a lot of turnovers in the first half. We cut that down second half, and I think that was the change that was changing the game for us. So, these are the ones everybody gets in on it. Everybody can score the ball. We’ve got a lot of depth.”
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To Cade’s point, seven players scored in double figures for the Pistons tonight, including three off the bench as Javonte Green, Caris LeVert and Jaden Ivey added 13, 11 and 10 points respectively. LeVert and Ivey both knocked down three shots from behind the arc against the Bucks, and Green was responsible for a pair of long-range shots in the victory over their Central Division rivals.
Now at 19-5 on the regular season, the Pistons are still in first place in the Eastern Conference. Detroit has several days off to rest up before squaring off with the Atlanta Hawks at home on Friday, Dec. 12 at 7 pm at home.
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