Pistons star Cade Cunningham tries to stay upbeat after ugly finish to Game 4 loss to Knicks

DETROIT (AP) — Cade Cunningham had exactly what he wanted.

With seven seconds left and his Detroit Pistons trailing the New York Knicks 94-93 in Game 4, Cunningham was looking at a wide-open 15-footer from the middle of the floor.

“I got a shot I loved,” he said. “It was a shot that feels like muscle memory for me.”

If he hit it, the Pistons were going back to New York with the series tied at 2 and Jalen Brunson likely dealing with a sore right leg.

Instead, Cunningham missed and Detroit is facing elimination after losing both games at home.

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“We want to win, so there’s disappointment,” he said. “But I’m not disheartened. I’m looking forward to getting to the next game.”

The most emotion Cunningham showed at his locker came when he asked about Detroit’s second shot on the last possession. After he missed, the rebound came out to Tim Hardaway Jr. on the left baseline.

He also missed, but only after contact with Josh Hart. Hardaway and Cunningham agreed that it should have been a foul. Even the officials concurred.

“You saw it,” Hardaway said. “It was blatant.”

For Cunningham, it was another frustrating moment in a series where he has struggled to get to the free-throw line.

“It’s nothing different than what we’ve seen before,” he said. “I want to say it was a surprise, because it was a foul, but I’m not surprised.”

The Pistons had an unexpected ally in disputing the call.

“During live play, it was judged that Josh Hart made a legal defensive play,” crew chief David Guthrie told a pool reporter after the game. “After postgame review, we observed that Hart makes body contact that is more than marginal to Hardaway Jr. and a foul should have been called.”

Cunningham missed a 15-footer with 1:07 to play, then turned the ball over with 37 seconds to go.

“Cade has to carry us a lot on the offensive end of the floor,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He has come through for us over and over again.”

That made for an ugly finish to a historic game for Cunningham. He finished with 25 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds — just the third playoff triple-double in franchise history. The first two belonged to Isiah Thomas in 1986 and 1989.

He had only six points in the first half but put up 19 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as Detroit rallied in the second half.

“Cunningham — that’s a great player,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “You need your whole team tied together on that and you got to try to make him work.”

Cunningham is averaging 25.8 points, 9.0 assists and 8.8 rebounds in his first playoff series, with at least one game to go.

“This has been a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s amazing to still be playing basketball at this time of the year.”

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba