"A choke artist": Cade Cunningham faces Pistons fans' wrath after Jalen Brunson's clutch brilliance eliminates Detroit
Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons saw their season end at the hands of the New York Knicks. A much-improved Pistons this season took the Knicks to Game 6 in their first-round playoff series.
While Cunningham kept the team's playoff hopes alive with his performance in Game 5, he was outplayed by New York's Jalen Brunson in Game 6. This led to some criticism of Cunningham from fans on social media.
"CADE IS A CHOKE ARTIST"
"cade getting rewarded with a super max after this smh no clutch gene," another fan tweeted.
"CADE reeks brunson owns him and sent him home on his home floor," a fan added.
"What was Cade doing this game man," a fan mentioned.
"Cade misses a lot of the important shots…needs to work on that," a fan commented.
Brunson led the Knicks in the 116-113 win with a game-high 40 points, alongside four rebounds and seven assists. Cunningham recorded 23 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.
Cunningham, playing in his first career playoff game, led the Pistons to their first playoff victory since 2008 in Game 2 against the Knicks. He finished the game with 33 points, 12 rebounds and three assists.
The Detroit Pistons struggled at home in the series, going 0-3. Despite that, Cunningham had a notable series, averaging 25.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game.
Cade Cunningham speaks after tough playoff loss
Cade Cunningham's performance wasn't enough to overcome the New York Knicks. After the Game 6 loss, Cunningham discussed what he learned from his first career playoff appearance.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned about the playoffs is that you have to raise your attention to details,” he said via NBA.com. “Every possession means so much more than it does during the regular season, so you have to do everything stronger, faster and a little more together.”
The Pistons became the first team to triple their win total from last season in one season (14 wins versus 44 wins). Cunningham joined Oscar Robertson and Luka Doncic as the only players in league history to average 25+ ppg, 8+ rpg and 8+ apg through their first five career playoff games.
