Cade Cunningham scores 40 and Anthony Edwards sets LCA record with 53
Anthony Edwards scored a Little Caesars Arena-record 53 points, but you can’t win a game by yourself, and the Detroit Pistons used an all-around team effort to gut out the win 119-105 over the Minnesota Timberwolves in front of a raucous crowd. Cade Cunningham did his best to go punch-for-punch with Edwards, both by scoring (a season-high 40 points) and distributing the ball (nine assists.)
Edwards’ performance comes after vowing to be more assertive in looking for his offense even as opposing teams build entire game plans around getting the ball out of his hands. Edwards was true to his word.
He scored his 53 points by hitting 16-of-31 shots and going 10-of-15 from deep. Many of those perimeter looks were tightly contested by the Pistons, but Edwards simply could not be stopped.
The problem for the Wolves is that nobody else on the floor could do much of anything. Edwards outscored his teammates 53-52, and while he took 31 shots, the next closest teammate was 12 from Julius Randle. Randle was the only other Wolf in double figures with 17.
The Pistons had no such trouble. Players up and down the roster contributed to the victory, and in many different ways. Ausar Thompson started tonight in place of Jaden Ivey, and he made an impact immediately with three steals in the first minutes of the game that he turned into three dunks. He finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and six steals.
As Cunningham said in his post-game media availability, “He’s a different dude. He’s not like us.”
Malik Beasley, who had been struggling, scored 23 against his former team. Tobias Harris struggled in the first half but scored 14 of his 16 in the second half and added 11 rebounds and four assists.
But in the end, it all came down to Cade Cunningham. Several times after Edwards was able to hit a tough shot, Cade would answer with a triple of his own, patiently weave his way into a mid-range jumper that splashed down, or got to the rim and finished in traffic.
“Leadership shows trust, and that is what [Cade] does,” JB Bickerstaff said after the game. “He could have been selfish and easily gotten his” but that’s not his game.
Cade talked about maintaining his focus on team basketball even as he felt he was in one of the better grooves of the season.
“I’m trying to make the best basketball play available to the team,” Cunningham said. “Sometimes confidence can get in the way of that. … But it is important to make sure everyone is in a rhythm and everyone is invovled.”
The entire game was perfectly encapsulated in the second quarter. Anthony Edwards had played all 12 minutes of the first and scored 14 points. And his team was down 33-28.
When Edwards sat to start the second, the Pistons quickly went on an 11-0 run and built the cushion they would use for the rest of the game. The Wolves could simply not accomplish anything unless it was done by a score from Edwards, or Edwards attracting three (or four) defenders.
The Pistons simply had too much energy, too much defensive effort, and were communicating well on both ends. The Pistons now stand one game below .500 and are in the midst of their best stretch of basketball in years.
They are doing it behind the all-around play of should-be All-Star Cade Cunningham. But he’s not doing it alone. Everyone is contributing to winning, and for the young Pistons, it is becoming something they are getting more accustomed to.
The Pistons have won seven of 10 games, with three of their next four at home. They next play the visiting Trail Blazers, whose head coach, Chauncey Billups, will be honored for his induction into the Hall of Fame. It should be fun.