Cade Cunningham and Pistons blow out Hawks: 3 takeaways
Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons blew out the Atlanta Hawks last night behind a strong effort from their defense.
The Hawks were on the second game of a back-to-back and seemed to run out of gas after the first quarter, which is when the Pistons took over the game.
Cunningham had a relatively quiet night scoring the ball, as he ended with just 17 points, but he added eight assists, six rebounds, a steal and a block and ended with a team high +43 net rating.
Cade was in control all night, pushing in transition, getting to his spots in the paint, setting up teammates and shooting an efficient 7-of-12 from the floor.
He only has eight more games to make his case for Rookie of the Year and showed his all-around game last night against the Hawks.
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It was a solid team effort from the Detroit Pistons that started with their defense. Here are three takeaways from the blowout win that propelled Detroit back into the third-worst record in the NBA.
Detroit Pistons vs. Atlanta Hawks: Switchability
One thing that really stood out in last night’s game was how switchable the Pistons were on defense.
Just about every Hawks’ possession started with a screen for Trae Young, as the Hawks were trying to get mismatches with Isaiah Stewart.
It didn’t work, as Stewart was able to stay in front of Young all night and the points he did get were off tough, contested shots that were often long twos or 35-foot 3-point shots.
Stewart has now contested the 5th-most shots in the entire NBA and has really progressed on the defensive end this year. He’s played well enough for the Pistons to consider a center by committee approach next year instead of going for a big-name free agent center.
Stewart wasn’t the only one. Marvin Bagley III got his chances on Young, as did Saddiq Bey, and though they didn’t do as well as Stewart, both held their own and Young was limited to just 21 points, which is a slow night for him.
Having guys who can switch all over the court is part of Troy Weaver’s vision for this team and you can see it starting to work.