Detroit’s Cade Cunningham hopes tough playoff lessons pay off next season and beyond

DETROIT AP Earlier this week Cade Cunningham announced he had learned more in four playoff games than he had picked up in the entire regular season Two games later the lessons have only gotten tougher On Tuesday the Pistons went into Madison Square Garden for Challenge and kept their season alive with a - accomplishment It was Detroit s second win in New York On Thursday though it was another crushing last-second loss that ended Detroit s postseason run Jalen Brunson hit a -pointer with seconds left to put the Knicks up - and Cunningham s pass to Malik Beasley sailed out of bounds as time expired The biggest thing I ve learned about the playoffs is that you have to raise your attention to details Cunningham announced Every possession means so much more than it does during the regular season so you have to do everything stronger faster and a little more together Cunningham didn t have his best challenge on Thursday He finished with points eight assists and seven rebounds but he missed all eight -point attempts and turned the ball over three times There are so several plays that I would love to have back he commented The turnovers but there are so countless little things that we could have done better In the long run the Pistons had a accomplished season by any reasonable standard A franchise that hadn t broken wins in the last five seasons jumped from - to - and the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference They didn t beat the Knicks but they took them to six games in only the second NBA postseason series to have four straight games decided by three points or less Three of them were Detroit home losses by and points This was an amazing atmosphere and the crowd was hype Beasley explained Next year we have to make sure we protect home court We got two wins at the Garden and if we could have gotten one here we could be closing this out The Pistons have a lot of work to do before they take another major step They aren t consistent enough shooting -pointers the starters went - in Competition and they struggle to keep teams off the offensive glass The Knicks turned offensive rebounds into points on Thursday But those plans can wait for a sparse weeks There s disappointment right now because these guys don t have an opportunity to keep doing what they ve been doing this season Pistons coach J B Bickerstaff announced But this is great experience because you can t get playoff experience without getting playoff experience and these guys did a tremendous job of learning from moment to moment and challenge to championship They ve learned what impacts winning AP NBA https apnews com NBA Source