3 takeaways from Pistons’ wild comeback win over the Kings

The Detroit Pistons had their highest scoring output of the season in a wild win over the Sacramento Kings on a night when Cade Cunningham fouled out (more on that later).

It was an exciting game despite the best efforts of the referees, who called 43 fouls between the two teams, delayed the game with lengthy reviews and in general did their jobs as if the fans had come there to see them.

The Pistons looked dead in the water when Cunningham fouled out with 2:34 left in the game, as they were down nine and looked like they would take the L in Sacramento.

But the Pistons showed some heart, kept battling and used a 13-1 run (with some help from the sloppy, terrible Kings) to close out the game on a Cory Joseph mid-range jumper before De’Aaron Fox’s final attempt came up short.

It was great to see Detroit show some grit on the second game of a back-to-back and might have been the final nail in the coffin for this current Kings’ group that has had trade rumors hanging over them all season.

Here are three takeaways from Detroit’s comeback win.

Cade Cunningham’s foul trouble for the Pistons

It was a tough night for Cunningham, who finished with 13 points, but was never really able to get into a groove after getting into early foul trouble.

Part of this is on him, as he has to be smarter about not getting early fouls, but part of the credit also has to go to the Kings’ small and quick guards who were blowing by him all night.

The other credit has to go to the referees, who made some dubious calls on the rookie, particularly his last two fouls, both of which looked clean. I didn’t even see him touch anyone on the 5th, but the refs got a whistle in anyway, as they did all night.

Cade Cunningham doesn’t seem to get many calls, even for a rookie, and the refs of late have seemed to target him for some reason. Perhaps he is jawing with them too much, or maybe it is just part of learning how to play with a target on your back as the number one pick.

But it’s getting old.

Cade is not only getting called for some questionable fouls, but rarely gets any called in his favor, often taking contact in the lane without drawing a whistle.

This will get better as he gets more seasoned, learns how to communicate with the refs more effectively and how to sell fouls on his behalf, but it goes back to my earlier point which is that NBA refs are getting WAY too much shine in these games, including the one where Cade was ejected for showing some joy and pointing at his friends behind the Pistons’ bench.

NBA refs: Not one single person is there to see you. Do your job and quit stealing the limelight from the players fans pay good money to see. Rant over.