Crucial Cade Cunningham stat doomed Pistons in loss to Warriors
Today at 02:50 AM
The Detroit Pistons suffered another close loss by dropping 115-110 to the Golden State Warriors. This marks their second consecutive defeat during their Western Conference road trip after coming up short against the Los Angeles Clippers this past Wednesday.
The competitive back-and-forth matchup was decided by late-game execution. The Pistons struggled to find a late-game rhythm offensively, especially with taking care of the basketball. All-Star point guard Cade Cunningham was responsible for nine turnovers throughout the contest, including four in the final period. Golden State threw multiple defenders at Cunningham all game to force mistakes from the Pistons’ offense.
Detroit committed plenty of crucial mistakes that helped result in their loss to the Warriors. They contributed more turnovers (20) than assists (17) offensively after finding a stable groove by sharing basketball over their last several games.
Despite the score staying close all game, the Pistons did not put forth their sharpest shooting performance. Golden State limited Detroit to 5-of-23 shooting from 3-point range. The Pistons also had a problem at the charity stripe by missing nine important free throws.
Detroit was able to control the Warriors’ biggest threat by limiting the threat of star guard Stephen Curry and forcing others to beat them. Curry totaled 32 points for Golden State, but the Pistons managed to neutralize his efficiency. Curry was held to 8-off-22 shooting from the field and 4-of-15 shooting from 3. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff expressed how proud he was of the defensive focus in that area by his team in the postgame media session.
“I thought they did a great job. There were very few times when he just got wide-open looks. Most of them were heavily contested,” Bickerstaff stated via FanDuel Sports Network. “We know how elite he is as a shotmaker, but I thought, for the most part, our guys did a good job of executing the game plan against him.”
Tobias Harris returned to action for the Pistons
Detroit’s starting lineup received a major boost with the return of veteran forward Tobias Harris. The Pistons were forced to play the first two games of their road trip without him due to personal reasons. Harris provided an important lift on both sides of the ball with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Bickerstaff commented on what it meant to have his leadership and production back for the Pistons.
“He’s a leader. He’s been a steady influence on this team the entire year. We depend on him; he’s reliable. He’s just there to support the group and gives everybody a sense of confidence,” Bickerstaff said to postgame beat reporters.
Cunningham led all Detroit scorers with 31 points for the night on 10-of-17 shooting from the field. The Pistons’ lead guard also saw a rare benefit at the free throw line by knocking down 9-of-10 attempts.
Sixth man Malik Beasley put up 16 points off the bench to aid Detroit. Center Jalen Duren recorded his 30th double-double of the regular season by scoring 13 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Veteran guard Dennis Schroder contributed eleven points off the bench against his former team.
The post Crucial Cade Cunningham stat doomed Pistons in loss to Warriors appeared first on ClutchPoints.
