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 required With seven seconds left and his Detroit Pistons trailing the New York Knicks - in Challenge Cunningham was looking at a wide-open -footer from the middle of the floor I got a shot I loved he explained 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 and Jalen Brunson likely dealing with a sore right leg Instead Cunningham missed and Detroit is facing elimination after losing both games at home We want to win so there s disappointment he declared But I m not disheartened I m looking forward to getting to the next match The preponderance emotion Cunningham proved at his locker came when he urged 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 executives concurred You saw it Hardaway mentioned 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 stated 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 notified a pool reporter after the match 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 -footer with to play then turned the ball over with seconds to go Cade has to carry us a lot on the offensive end of the floor Pistons coach J B Bickerstaff explained He has come through for us over and over again That made for an ugly finish to a historic meeting for Cunningham He finished with points assists and rebounds just the third playoff triple-double in franchise history The first two belonged to Isiah Thomas in and He had only six points in the first half but put up points nine rebounds and seven assists as Detroit rallied in the second half Cunningham that s a great player Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau explained You need your whole squad tied together on that and you got to try to make him work Cunningham is averaging points assists and rebounds in his first playoff series with at least one match to go This has been a lot of fun he commented It s amazing to still be playing basketball at this time of the year AP NBA https apnews com hub nba Source