Cade Cunningham and the Pistons clip the Hawks: 3 takeaways

Killian Hayes’ confidence is building and he’s helping Cade Cunningham

Killian Hayes had one of his best all-around games since moving to the bench, ending with 13 points, six assists, four rebounds and just one turnover in 31 minutes.

Dwane Casey stayed with him down the stretch and Hayes was doing a great job of locking up Trae Young, who would have had a season low in points had the game not gone to overtime.

Hayes wasn’t on Young all game, but when he was, he got in his grill, got his hands on the ball and made Young take tough shots that he was not hitting.

Killian also looked comfortable running the offense, had a couple of nice bullet passes across court to set up teammates, and most importantly, was aggressive looking for his own shot, which will open up his dribble/kick game.

I really like the chemistry he’s building with Marvin Bagley III, who provides him with an outlet and gives Hayes a lob threat.

Another underrated part of his night was his screen setting. The Pistons were using Hayes as the screener in the 4th quarter  in order to get Trae Young switched onto Cade Cunningham.

Just about every time it happened, Cade was able to get into the lane with ease and get a good look. If not for the fact that Cunningham had some bad luck on easy shots in the paint, he could have had 40 points last night, as the Hawks had no answer.

You could see Killian’s confidence growing as the game went on, and it’s too bad that he got kneed in the groin late in the game and had to miss the rest. Let’s hope he comes back healthy in the next game, as we are finally starting to see the growth we were looking for this season.