Pistons’ Cade Cunningham after 52-point night: ‘The best I’ve ever done it’

Cade Cunningham didn’t need much time to decide where Thursday’s performance belonged.

“It was the best I’ve ever done it in my NBA career for sure,” Cunningham said, via ESPN News Services⁠.

Hard to argue. The Pistons guard finished with 52 points, 11 assists and zero turnovers in a 144-140 double-overtime win over the Wizards. According to ESPN, he became the first player since at least 1978 to record at least 50 points and 10 assists without a turnover.

The scoring was spectacular. Handling that much of the offense without giving away a possession made it something more.

Cunningham scored 30 of his points in the fourth quarter and the two overtimes. Every time Washington appeared to have created an opening, he helped close it.

Trae Young forced overtime with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. The Wizards then scored the first seven points of the extra period before Cunningham brought Detroit back. AJ Dybantsa forced another overtime with a last-second basket.

Cunningham kept going.

“He led us through the fourth quarter and overtimes,” teammate Ausar Thompson said. “He did what he does. One person can’t just guard him.”

Thompson had a memorable night himself, collecting his first career triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. That would ordinarily command a little more attention.

But Cunningham delivered the kind of performance that takes over the conversation, matching the fourth-highest scoring total in Pistons history.

The Wizards certainly made him earn the win. Young scored 37 points, while Anthony Davis and Alex Sarr added 30 apiece. Davis also grabbed 15 rebounds before fouling out in the second overtime.

Detroit needed nearly everything Cunningham provided. He gave the Pistons both the scoring and the decision-making to survive a game Washington repeatedly refused to let end.

His own assessment covered it pretty well.

More Hoops: NBA trade proposal sends Anthony Davis to Hawks⁠