Detroit Pistons Explain Cade Cunningham’s Late Absence vs. Raptors

As the Detroit Pistons and the Toronto Raptors engaged in a tight battle on Wednesday night, it seemed the game was going down to the wire.

At the end of three quarters, the Pistons had a slight 83-79 lead. This was after Detroit trailed at halftime and found themselves down by as many as 16 points in the first half.

A comeback was brewing in Detroit, and a young Pistons team just needed to figure out a way to close it out while on top. Typically, in that position, a team would lean on its star player to be the leader in getting the job done.

Instead, Detroit’s star, Cade Cunningham, was mysteriously absent in the fourth quarter.

Following the game, Pistons head coach Monty Williams erased any cause for concern.

“I just decided to roll with that group,” the head coach told reporters, according to Detroit News’ Mike Curtis. “I had him coming back before [Marcus Sasser] hit that three on the left wing.”

The decision to continue rolling with Marcus Sasser over Cunningham wasn’t solely on the head coach, though. According to Detroit veteran Isaiah Stewart, Cunningham displayed selflessness by encouraging his coach to keep rolling with the hot hand, as the Pistons had something good going late in the game.

“Cade was a great teammate,” Stewart told reporters, per Brandon Dent of Woodward Sports.

The rookie Sasser checked in for nearly all of the fourth quarter against the Raptors. He chucked up six shots from the field, with half of them coming from deep. Sasser knocked down all but one of his threes. During the fourth quarter alone, Sasser led the Pistons with eight points, four rebounds, and three assists. 

By outscoring the Raptors 30-25 in the fourth quarter, the Pistons put the Raptors away with a 113-104 victory. While Sasser’s shot wasn’t at its sharpest throughout the game, he was efficient when the lights were the brightest. In the end, he finished with 11 points, five rebounds, and five assists in 22 minutes of action off the bench.

Meanwhile, Cunningham had an early night. After spending 27 minutes on the court through three quarters of action, the third-year veteran totaled 19 points, while picking up three rebounds, and dishing out six assists.