Last time the Detroit Pistons played the OKC Thunder, Cade Cunningham was thrown out of the game by an overzealous referee.
Those who have been looking forward to tonight’s nationally televised rematch between Cade and MVP-favorite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are likely going to be disappointed once again.
The Pistons’ magic number was reduced to one last night when the Atlanta Hawks were beaten by the Portland Trail Blazers, which is good news for Detroit, as they are unlikely to help their own cause tonight in Oklahoma City.
OKC has won 10 straight and is the best team in the NBA, but if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, the Pistons will be without more than half of their rotation due to injuries and suspensions.
The league announced yesterday that both Ron Holland II and Marcus Sasser had earned one-game suspensions, while serial “offender” Isaiah Stewart got two.
I have a lot of thoughts about some of the dialogue and debate I saw around this, particularly some of the language used to describe Beef Stew, which was precisely what you would expect from social media that rewards such things.
I’m not going to argue the suspensions, but did see a lot of fans (particularly those from Minnesota) saying things like “STEWART SHOULD BE THROWN OUT OF THE LEAGUE,” or “HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON!!” Huh?!?
It was a little pushing and shoving, settle down. I’ve never in my life cheered for a player to get suspended for a small scuffle on the court, and outside of a few who committed actual crimes, ever cared about suspensions at all.
Don’t be the type of fan that cheers for suspensions or won’t stop crying about a little pushing and shoving. It’s not a good look and reeks of snitch behavior. No one likes the hall monitor, let’s move on and play ball already.
Pistons injuries vs. Thunder: Will Cade Cunningham play tonight?
Cunningham has been listed as doubtful for tonight’s matchup, which would be his 5th-straight missed game, so if you are not concerned at this point, you’re a calmer person than me.
Given that the Pistons will be missing three rotation players and have little chance of winning this game anyway, it might be better to get Cade an extra night even if he were ready to go, but I am officially concerned.
Tobias Harris has been upgraded to probable, which is good, but there’s not much point in bringing him back tonight in what will likely be called the Daniss Jenkins/BBall Paul game.
Jaden Ivey is still out and will be re-evaluated in less than two weeks to see if he can come back this season.
Alex Ducas, Ousmane Dieng and Aaron Wiggins have all been ruled out for OKC, though I wouldn't be shocked to see them rest a few more players considering the Pistons only have six regular rotation players available.
How to watch Pistons vs Thunder
Right about now the NBA is probably regretting putting this game on national television, but who doesn’t want to watch BBall Paul shoot threes? The 9:30 PM ET tip off will be shown on ESPN as well as FanDuel Sports Network Detroit.
You can listen on 97.1 FM The Ticket, 950 AM or have many streaming options.