Apr 29, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) celebrates after scoring in the third quarter against the New York Knicks during game five of first round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Cade Cunningham Drops Honest Take on Pistons’ Inexperience vs Knicks

Originally posted on Detroit Pistons on SI
By Justin Grasso | Last updated May 9, 2025 7:29 PM ET

Heading into the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, the Detroit Pistons were viewed as underdogs not only due to their spot in the standings, but also due to the fact that they were a young roster with a lack of postseason experience. Led by Cade Cunningham , the Pistons’ top star was playing in his first set of postseason action.

Did it make a real difference for Detroit?

“We were playing the same brand of basketball,” Cunningham told reporters during his final media availability of the 2025 NBA Playoffs. “It wasn’t like we were doing anything new. We had experience playing like that.”

The playoffs slow down the game, adding pressure in the half-court for teams. The environments are more hostile. The result of each game holds more weight, and the physicality is always turned up.

For Cunningham and the Pistons, they played like a team that had nothing to lose. The loose mentality, while continuing to play a physical style of basketball, put them in a position to apply real pressure to a battle-tested Knicks team.

Although the Pistons’ playoff run ended with a Game 6 loss, Cunningham was hanging his head over the defeat. Detroit felt that a few tweaks could’ve helped them find better results.

“The ball not bouncing our way, and then us just not executing certain details that we wanted to execute,” Cunningham added. “I thought it was a great experience for us as a young team. I didn’t feel like we were too inexperienced to win that series.”

If the Pistons can make their way back to the playoffs next season, the inexperienced label won’t mean as much. Now that most of the core members of the young roster laced them up in a playoff setting, they know what to expect in the next go-round.