Cade Cunningham's dominance exemplifies NBA at its best — when focus is on the court

DETROIT — Can you imagine, after Cade Cunningham’s first two postseason games this year, if he still wasn’t eligible for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award, or for any of the All-NBA teams?Cunningham has become every bit the franchise player the Detroit Pistons dreamed he’d be almost five years ago, when they took him as the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. His magical season continued Wednesday, when he led the Eastern Conference’s top seed on an incredible 30-3 run in the third quarter en route to a 98-83 win that evened the Pistons’ first-round series with the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic.Advertisement