No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham delivered an eye catching performance in his third Summer League game with the Detroit Pistons, dropping 24 points to spark a 93-87 win over the New York Knicks.
The win was the first for the team in Vegas, with the 24 points coming on just 14 shots in his highest scoring outing of the tournament.
"It's good to finally get our first win," Cunnigham said postgame. "That's what we came here to do, going down 0-2 kinda hurt us. We wanted to come out here and work hard, build and get a win."
Shooting 37.5 percent from three across the first two games, Cunningham was a flame thrower behind the arc, burying seven of his ten attempts.
"I didn't know I hit seven but I know it was feeling good, my jumper felt good. I'm just going to stay confident and shoot it until the clip is empty for real."
Finding his rhythm with some catch-and-shoot opportunities early, Cunningham caught fire in the second half, drilling a series of tough jumpers off the dribble. Overall, 16 of his 24 points came in the second half including five of the seven long range makes.
Bring out the umbrellas☔@CadeCunningham_ drains 7 triples to power the @DetroitPistons to the #NBASummer win! pic.twitter.com/e9x7SFQAiU
— NBA (@NBA) August 14, 2021
Attracting full court pressure for much of the night in combination with being double teamed at times, the highly touted rookie embraced the challenge, seemingly aware the target will be on his back throughout the season.
"I need it. The target is what I wanted my whole life growing up. I worked to get that target on my back so now it's about controlling that developing."
"It's one win. It's Summer League but I think we took a step in the right direction. Now it's about continuing and building off of it."
The Pistons are right back at it against the Los Angeles Lakers on a back-to-back, with tip set for 10:00pm (ET).
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