The Detroit Pistons dropped their second game in a row, this one to the Cleveland Cavaliers and the two losses had plenty in common.
In both games, Cade Cunningham struggled shooting the ball. He was just 9-of-26 last night and 13-of-31 the night before even though the counting stats were there.
If you watched the games you know why. Both the Magic and Cavs hounded Cade all night, played him physically and dared anyone else to beat them. Without a reliable secondary scorer and ballhandler, the team goes as Cade goes, so the offense struggled to generate points, particularly in the 2nd quarter where they scored a combined 45 points over the last two games.
Let's also not overreact. Those were two very good teams the Pistons lost to and two of the best defenses in the league.
But Cunningham has hit a bit of a shooting slump over the last five games, hitting just 42 percent of his shots overall and just 26 percent of his 3-point shots.
There are myriad reasons why this is the case. It’s possible Cunningham is feeling some fatigue after carrying a team on his back for an entire month with little help. Teams are also increasingly focused on stopping him only, meaning he’s facing double teams and intense pressure every time he touches the ball.
Teams have also been allowed to be A LOT more physical with Cade than you typically see with stars, and this isn’t just me being a Homer, there are numbers to back it up.
You also have the eye test, which tells us Cunningham is getting hand checked, bumped and fouled a lot more than is getting called. The most egregious was against the Magic, when Franz Wagner shoved him into the crowd right in front of the ref and didn’t get a call.
But there were plenty last night as well, as Cunningham was bumped and fouled on just about every take to the rim.
The free-throw numbers speak for themselves, as the Pistons shot just 11 free throws last night to the Cavs' 23, with Cade taking just four himself. It wasn’t much different the game before, as Paolo Banchero took twice as many free throws as Cunningham (even though they play a similar style) and the Magic enjoyed a +10 advantage as a team.
This isn’t just two games, it’s been a theme all season, which is why we’ve seen both Cunningham and coach JB Bickerstaff get technical fouls over the last two games. They are sick of it and rightfully had something to say to the refs.
But are they right or just trying to gain an advantage? I’ll let you decide.
Cade Cunningham’s free-throw attempts
Cunningham has the 6th-highest usage rate in the NBA this season so far, but is just 36th in free-throw attempts per game.
When you look at nearly all of the other high-usage guys, they are also top-10 in free-throw attempts. Cunningham is attempting just 4.6 free throws per game, not even half of what guys like Giannis, Paolo or SGA shoot per game.
Cunningham takes fewer free throws per game than guys like Trey Murphy III, Norman Powell, De’Andre Hunter or Jonathan Kuminga, none of whom have the ball in their hands as much as Cunningham, take it to the rim as much or absorb nearly as much contact.
But it’s not just Cade.
The Pistons as a team are just 27th in free-throw attempts this season and shooting three fewer free throws per game than their opponents. Detroit gets just over 13 percent of their points from free throws, which is 26th in the league.
Some of this is certainly the fault of the Pistons, who do foul too much, bite on a ton of pump fakes and play an aggressive style that isn’t always going to vibe with the refs.
But Cunningham gets the worst whistle of any star player in the league and it’s not close, as he is always at the rim, getting bumped on every shot and now teams are increasingly hand checking him as soon as he crosses half court.
The strategy moving forward is going to be to play Cade physically, bump him every chance you get and not let him have any easy looks, and why wouldn’t it be? He doesn’t get the calls, so you might as well.
To be fair, I like physical basketball, but I would also like to see my team’s star get rewarded when he takes it at the defense and gets fouled, which happened very clearly a few times last night, one leading to Cade getting a technical from his back on the floor.
This isn’t all about the refs, but I can’t blame Bickerstaff for getting tossed against Orlando, and hopefully it will get the league’s attention.