Cade Cunningham finally had his coming-out party. The Detroit Pistons rookie scored a career-high 34 points to go with 8 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 blocks. The only other rookie to reach those thresholds was some guy named Michael Jordan. Ever heard of him?
Unfortunately, that herculean effort wasn’t enough as Detroit fell to the Denver Nuggets 110-105. The reasons for the loss were a bunch of familiar culprits — disparities at the free-throw line, rebounding and points in the paint.
The Nuggets shot 32 free throws and were a +16 at the charity stripe, had a 56-36 rebounding advantage and edged the Pistons in the paint 56-48.