Cade Cunningham entered Wednesday treating the Detroit Pistons‘ matchup versus the Houston Rockets as another game, not a contest between the top two picks in the NBA draft.
He did just that, and helped lead his team to its second win of the season.
Cunningham produced a career-high 20 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block in the 112-104 win over Jalen Green and the Rockets. He connected on 8-of-18 shots from the field, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range, for his most efficient outing yet.
The No. 1 overall pick made several key plays late to help preserve the win. He hit a 3-pointer with under five minutes to play to stop a 10-0 run by the Rockets, and also had a layup to put the Pistons up by four points with 1:50 left to play.
Pistons head coach Dwane Casey liked his play down the stretch.
That is what we saw in college when he was at Oklahoma State. He did a good job of commanding the ball and it seemed like the bigger the moment, the better he played. That is kinda showing true right now. I thought he made some good plays down the stretch and a couple of pretty good defensive stops.
On the other side of the ball, Green finished with 23 points, five rebounds and two assists in 38 minutes of work with the Rockets. The second overall pick went 8-of-20 from the field and converted on only 3-of-11 attempts from beyond the arc.
Coming into the contest, much was made about the two picks in the NBA draft squaring off for the first time. However, once the game tipped off, that notion was meaningless as Cunningham just locked in on the court.
It was all about how I approached the game. I didn’t come into the game thinking about it too much. When we were in the flow of the game, my mind wasn’t stuck on that, it was ‘Pistons versus Rockets.’ I was just trying to find ways to give ourselves an advantage.
The two players had a moment when Green barked over in the direction of Cunningham. He got by Cunningham to finish at the rim and was then seen yelling at him. Cunningham continued on seemingly unfazed as Green was whistled for a technical foul.
Cunningham later responded by taking a charge on Green. He got up and didn’t say or look at Green and just got back into the flow of the game. Afterward, Cunningham wasn’t concerned with that trash-talking by Green.
“Nothing that I heard tonight held any real weight to me,” Cunningham said. “It was just all for the cameras, I felt like. I wasn’t really trippin’ on anything. I was just trying to play the game.”
Said Green:
“It’s basketball at the end of the day. I don’t remember exactly what I said, it was just the intensity of the game. I was getting fired up. Just trying to get a dub, that’s all.”
Jalen Green let Cade Cunningham hear it after this dunk 😨
(via @NBATV) pic.twitter.com/3hUXyR0AAl
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 11, 2021
The game marked just the fifth of the season for Cunningham but was likely his best one yet. He continues to get more comfortable each time he steps onto the court and that is beginning to show. He is averaging 18.3 points, six rebounds and three assists over his last three games.
The two rookie players will meet for the second and final time of the season on Dec. 18 in Detroit, a contest that Green and the Rockets will surely want after falling on Wednesday.
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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