Cade Cunningham was supposed to be the reason the Pistons survived. Instead, he was the reason they did not. The 24-year-old Pistons point guard went quiet in the second half of Sunday’s Game 7 against the Cavaliers, and Detroit’s season ended with a 125-94 blowout loss at home.
The numbers tell most of the story. Cunningham came out of the locker room flat after halftime. He couldn’t get to his spots, couldn’t make shots when he did, and couldn’t seem to find any rhythm against Cleveland’s switching defense. By the time the fourth quarter started, the game was effectively over and Pistons fans had already started filing for the exits.
Social media did not let it slide. Fans piled on Cade for everything from his decision-making to his body language. The shots ranged from fair criticism about second-half production to the kind of stuff that says more about the person typing than it does about the player.
Here is the honest read. Cade had a great regular season and a very real All-NBA case. He led Detroit to a No. 1 seed, posted career numbers across the board, and was the engine on a young roster that nobody saw coming. None of that disappears because of one bad half.
But the playoffs are a different test, and Cade failed it. He was very good in Games 1 and 2 when Detroit took the series lead. He was inconsistent in the middle games. He was terrible in Game 7. That is the kind of arc a star player cannot have if he wants to be the centerpiece of a championship contender.
The good news for Detroit is that this is fixable. Cunningham is still 24. He has only played in one real playoff series. Star guards typically take a few postseason runs to figure out how to read defenses that are scheming against them every single possession. Luka Doncic looked overwhelmed at times in his early playoff series. So did Damian Lillard. So did James Harden.
The pattern matters. Most franchise guards eventually learn to slow the game down, read the second defender, and make better decisions when the floor gets crowded. Cade has the tools to do all of that. He is a big point guard with vision, range, and a soft touch. The Pistons need him to add the playoff version of those skills, which means handling pressure, getting to the line more, and not disappearing for a half at a time.
Detroit also needs to give him help. One of the lessons from this series is that the Pistons do not have a reliable second offensive option who can take some of the creation load off Cunningham. When Cade is hot, it does not matter. When he is cold, the whole offense flatlines.
That is a roster construction issue, not a Cade problem. Trajan Langdon and the front office have to find a real second scorer this summer. A wing who can score off the dribble. A guard who can run pick-and-roll when Cade is on the bench. Something to keep the offense functional when the No. 1 option is having a rough night.
The fans piling on Cade right now are also the same fans who were calling him a top-10 player six weeks ago. None of this matters in a vacuum. What matters is whether Cade looks at this Game 7 and treats it like Damian Lillard treated his early playoff failures. If he does, Detroit has a star. If he doesn’t, the Pistons have a bigger problem than people realized.
The next two months are going to tell us a lot.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
