The Pistons Are Getting Down To Business

The video that you will encounter further down the page comes by way of ESPN, and it describes a BATTLE (complete with crossing swords) between Detroit's Cade Cunningham and Cleveland's James Harden. It's a fool who looks for restraint and reliability in YouTube headlines, but this was in no way a battle. Cunningham was terrific. He has that quality of seeming to always make the right play, so that even when his shots aren't falling—he missed six of his seven two-point attempts in the first half—good things are always happening around him. Importantly, his game and his shoulders have both matured to the point that the right play, for him, is virtually never to meekly pitch the ball to a teammate and then to go hide in a corner someplace. He can be directly involved in the action every time up the floor, as a shooter or passer or screener. In the second half, when the Cavaliers made a sudden run, Cunningham grabbed control of the game with assists on three straight Detroit possessions, all of them leading to dunks; he then whipped around and screened for a teammate for a clean rhythm jumper; he then drove directly into Donovan Mitchell, shoved him down into the paint, and rose up over him for a bucket of his own. Harden had his moments. He also kicked the ball around the gym quite a lot and missed six of his seven three-point attempts, and did a lot of that thing where his brain seems to blow a fuse if he beats his primary defender and defensive help does not immediately rush out at him, surrendering a bunch of passing lanes. And history has taught jaded hoops fans that when Harden's shot is off and he's flailing around in the midrange, it's a lot harder to accept the other parts of the Harden package.