The Pistons had a must-win Game 4 against the Magic, but Cade Cunningham sadly did not come through. Cunningham's biggest weaknesses came out once again, as he finished the game shooting 7-of-22 with 8 turnovers. His team may not have done him any offensive favors, but Detroit's star guard needs to be better in key games to find any meaningful playoff success.
Cade Cunningham needs to solve his biggest issues
Cunningham's offensive woes wasted another dominant defensive performance from the Pistons, who lost the game 94-88. Because Detroit shut down the Magic offense effectively, they had plenty of opportunities to retake the lead in the fourth quarter. But Cunningham repeatedly failed to take advantage and convert.
In the fourth quarter, he was 0-for-5 from the field and had no assists. He even missed a pair of free throws, finishing 2-of-4 from the line in the pivotal frame. Cade looked gassed by the end of the game and struggled to attack the rim effectively, leading to ineffective crunchtime offense for the Pistons.
On top of his clutch struggles, Cunningham was also careless with the ball throughout the game. He finished with 8 turnovers for the second straight game. Of course, the Pistons are doing him no favors by giving him no other reliable creators, but Cunningham needs to take responsibility as well.
Even with the poor offensive help around him, Cade was terrible in Game 4 and often hurt his team through his own mistakes. In a game where both teams struggled heavily to score halfcourt points, Cade's turnovers not only killed scoring chances for the Pistons, but also gave the Magic easier opportunities.
The Pistons need to change something for Cunningham
As the game progressed, the Pistons tried to get Cunningham the ball in different ways to give him more favorable positions. They moved him off-ball and set multiple screens for him, but the defense still swarmed to stop him from initiating offense. Detroit will need to find ways to take advantage of this defensive coverage, but that'll take changes from the entire team.
The Pistons have struggled this series whenever the ball isn't in Cunningham's hands, but more creative sets could change that. Perhaps Detroit's coaching staff will need to change their rotations or simply call better plays, but they will obviously need to find ways to win without demading too much from Cunningham.
Cade Cunningham needs to be at his best in the most important moments of the series, but he can't do that if the Pistons force him to single-handedly carry their offensive load for the entire game. They're making it too easy for the Magic to stop Cunningham, and it's led to their hole in this series so far.
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