This was Cade Cunningham, where many people suggested he was the best player in the series.
Cunningham is asking questions about Knicks players about their introduction to the series. Cunningham went missing in Game 1.
Cunningham bouncing off the opener of the Rough Series, scoring 33 points in a 21-11 shooting, and 12 rebounds in the Knicks’ 100-94 Game 2 loss on Monday night at Madison Square Garden, where the series was evenly matched by the single heading to Detroit.
OG Anunoby praised the way he defended Cunningham in Game 1. Cunningham scored 21 points in a rough 8-21 shooting from the field with six turnovers in that game, with Anunoby scoring five steals.
However, Cunningham routinely beat dribbling on Monday night and went into paint at his own pace. Only four of Cunningham’s 21 field goal attempts came from the 3-point range.
“They were running to get me out of his body,” Anunoby said. “Set up the screen and get off him and do something like that. They’ve made some adjustments. We’ll do the adjustments ourselves.
“They’re all trying to screen me. They’re on the screen. They’re doing that illegal. I’m sure everything about them isn’t illegal, but they’re all trying to screen me as much as they can.”
Cunningham, who averaged 9.1 assists per game in the regular season, was just three on Monday night.
However, he faced little resistance on the rims of Karl Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson, and had little need to kick the ball to his teammates. And one of his assists was a crucial alley lob to Jalen Duren, giving the Pistons a four-point lead with more than two minutes left in the game.
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Mikal Bridge was usually the offensive point defender for the opposing security Knicks during the regular season, defending Cunningham mainly in four regular season games.
And now coach Tom Thibodeau has chosen Anunoby’s length and strength to match Cunningham throughout the first two games of the series. It worked in Game 1, but Anunoby’s lack of speed was exposed on Monday night, especially at the boundary line.
Knicks center Mitchell Robinson in the second quarter of Game 2. Charles Wentzelberg/New York Post
“He’s a great player,” Thibodeau said of Cunningham. “He’s got to a lot of lines.”
Cunningham took 12 free throws, making 10 of them.
Cunningham helped drive the pistons to their early leads, but they never abandoned them. Of his 33 points, 20 came in the first half. He scored nine straight piston points in the second quarter. He then pushed the pistons into the transition, speeding up the game faster than the Knicks normally liked.
“He’s a great player,” Anunoby said. “I made some tough shots. They were doing some good things to get me off him, get off his body and get him downhill.”
