Pistons are learning, so it's fine to have fun while down to Knicks

The Detroit Pistons are are the brink of seeing their season come to an end. Of course, they're playing with house money. This is a team that went 14-68 last season.

They tripled their win total this year and made the playoffs as a No. 6 seed. There was no expectation that this would be the case heading into this season, so that's the good news for Detroit. Things are ahead of schedule.

Still, down 3-1 to the New York Knicks in the first round of the 2025 NBA playoffs, the Pistons have to feel a sense of loss. They've been close with no cigar in their three defeats, and there's a case to be made that they should have had a chance to win Game 4. Even the NBA admitted after the game that Tim Hardaway Jr. should have been at the line with a chance to win on Sunday.

Close, but not close enough, is a great way to describe the Pistons' three losses in this series. That's frustrating for a young team, and the Pistons have shown some frustration in this series against the more veteran and more talented Knicks.

Even so, Cunningham relayed after the heartbreaking Game 4 loss that he's enjoying his first foray into the NBA playoffs.

“Man, it’s a lot of fun,” he said, according to Josh Niyo of The Detroit News. “And I feel like I’ve learned as much in this series as I have all season. There’s a lot to take away from it. Not everything I can share with y’all, but I think it's great.”

That's ultimately the good news for the Pistons. Cunningham has blossomed into a superstar and he's seemingly gotten better with each new experience. The NBA playoffs are a different beast than the regular season, so there was never the expectation that he'd come out looking like LeBron James in his 22nd season.

Cunningham is far from the Pistons' only young player as well. Ausar Thompson is 22, Jalen Duren is 21, rookie Ron Holland II has gotten some minutes in this series and he's only 19.

That's why president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon brought in veterans like Hardaway Jr., Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley and Dennis Schroder.

That combination of youthful energy and veteran moxie has made the Pistons a dangerous playoff team, but they just haven't been able to close out the Knicks.

Part of that is on Cunningham, because he's the superstar, but the veterans around him haven't been able to put together consistent performances all at the same time.

Still, it's a great growing and learning experience for a team that could very well blossom into a contender over the next few seasons. Cunningham is the main piece of that puzzle, so if he's having fun while learning about the playoffs, the rest of Detroit should follow suit. 

Sure, it doesn't feel good after that last loss, but house money is house money.