The Detroit Pistons secured a 112-105 road win over the Boston Celtics on Monday night, as Cade Cunningham came to play. The one-time NBA All-Star had 32 points, four rebounds, 10 assists, and six three-pointers on 11-for-21 shooting from the field in 36 minutes of action.
During a postgame interview, Cunningham said that the Detroit Pistons’ earlier defeat against the Boston Celtics on November 26, which ended their 13-game winning streak, served as the motivation behind his inspiring all-around performance.
“Definitely wanted to come back, have that game back, get that game back,” Cunningham explained via Coty M. Davis of The Detroit News. “Obviously, they’ve been playing good basketball, so it was a good test for us. Great win for us.”
“Just trusting my work — staying in the game, knowing I was gonna get another opportunity to get back out there. That’s part of the game,” he continued. “There’s gonna be games where you’re in foul trouble, just learning how to play with it and not, obviously, foul again, but not give up points and just be a cone out there. So it was a balance between it, but my team made a lot of big plays covering for me, and I was able to make some plays too.”
Detroit Pistons’ second unit was a bright spot vs. Boston Celtics
Besides Cade Cunningham, Tobias Harris was the other double-digit scorer in the Detroit Pistons’ starting lineup with 13 points on 4-for-11 shooting. However, they didn’t lose yesterday, as their bench provided a significant lift.
The Detroit Pistons bench contributed 47 points, with Caris LeVert leading all reserves with 13 points. Jaden Ivey added 10 points, three rebounds, and two steals in 20 minutes. Both of them were key in the team’s third-quarter push, where they outscored the Boston Celtics 32-24.
On the other hand, center Jalen Duren had his worst performance of the season, notching a season-low six points and three rebounds. He also spent most of the game in foul trouble, ceding minutes to Isaiah Stewart.
