The Detroit Pistons happily welcomed Cade Cunningham back to the lineup for their 137-111 win over the Milwaukee Bucks
Once the Detroit Pistons announced that Cade Cunningham was set to start last night’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Eastern Conference’s top squad immediately added a calming, stabilizing presence who has routinely guided the squad to victory through difficult back-and-forth battles all season long.
Wednesday night’s 137-111 win over the Bucks was not that considering the margin of victory, but the Pistons were able to cruise to such a certain result thanks to the return of their All-Star point guard.
“I felt really good,” Cunningham said after the game. “I felt like I got some really good cardio in today. Everything felt good. I felt like all the training I’ve been doing had me in a great place where I was comfortable with all of my minutes.”
In 26 minutes against Milwaukee, Cunningham logged another double-double with 13 points, 10 assists and five rebounds to go along with two more stocks. Cunningham helped Detroit amass 75 points in the first half, and the squad eventually broke the 135-point threshold for the eighth time this season, which set a new franchise record.
So, the Pistons’ lopsided victory last night proved that the team needed little time to reacclimate Cunningham back into the rotation. But during his time away, the fifth-year pro described his approach to recovering from the collapsed lung injury that caused his multi-week absence.
“It was different than any injury I’ve ever had as far as how it progressed initially from whenever I got hit to how I felt immediately to how I started to feel as time went on, but thanks to all the staff and medical that was around and helped me through that time,” Cunningham said. “I was kind of beat up. I was panicking a lot, just with what I was feeling and stuff, but they helped me get comfortable and help me get through that.”
Cunningham’s return to the court was not an easy path, which makes sense given the severity of his injury. Since the Pistons are still working Cunningham back with the playoffs approaching, Detroit head coach J.B. Bickerstaff outlined how the team is looking to take a cautious approach.
“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 [we] want to do the right thing and get him some reps.”
The Pistons plan to use a responsible approach as they monitor Cunningham’s health over the team’s final two games of the regular season, but the All-Star issued a positive report from his perspective post-game.
Moving forward, Cunningham and the rest of the Pistons will travel to Charlotte for a 7 pm matchup with the Hornets on Friday, April 10. The matchup will mark the first meeting of the two teams since their mid-season brawl, so it will be worth tuning into.
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