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Five Examples of Cade Cunningham Cooking Hawks Defense

The Pistons rookie embarrassed the Hawks.

Pat Benson

Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
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Entering last night's game, the Detroit Pistons had the third-worst offensive rating in the league. Despite being 7.5-point underdogs, they pulled out an overtime victory against the Atlanta Hawks. Even more unlikely, rookie Cade Cunningham went off for 28 points and 10 assists. Let's look at five examples of Cunningham embarrassing the Hawks defense.

Clint Capela

The Hawks are bottom-ten in the league in fast-break points allowed. They give up far too many easy looks in transition, and this play is a perfect example. Clint Capela inexplicably decides to pick up Cade Cunningham, while John Collins lets Marvin Bagley III slip right past him for an alley-oop.

Trae Young

Nothing too special about this Pistons set, just a normal pick-and-pop. Trae Young switches on to Cunningham and easily gets put in jail by the larger guard. De'Andre Hunter and John Collins collapse to help with Cunningham, but it doesn't do any good.

Bogdan Bogdanovic 

It's clear that Bogdan Bogdanovic knows the screen is coming, and Onyeka Okongwu is there to help if needed. However, Cunningham doesn't need the screen as he blows right past Bogdanovic. Also, keep an eye on Delon Wright. He tries to stunt at Cunningham and get back to his assignment, who, by the way, is already cutting towards the basket.

De'Andre Hunter

Third-year wing De'Andre Hunter is billed as the Hawks best perimeter defender. Sadly, he can't stay in front of a rookie guard. Clint Capela has to step up to stop Cunningham, and Collins can't cover Bagley because he's worried about Jerami Grant open in the corner. Total breakdown.

Trae Young

You can't fault Trae Young for his size. Sometimes there are just bad matchups. But that isn't the case on this inbounds play. Young immediately loses track of Killian Hayes, which takes De'Andre Hunter out of position to prevent the wide-open layup. There's not much Collins can do to stop Cunningham from getting an open three-pointer. 

For as prolific as the Hawks are on offense, their defense offsets most of those gains. I don't know if it's personnel, coaching, or all of the above. But until they make serious changes, they're going to remain 27th in defensive rating, which makes them a fringe playoff team at best.

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Pat Benson
PAT BENSON

Pat Benson covers the Atlanta Hawks for Sports Illustrated's All Hawks. He has covered the NBA for several years and is the author of "Kobe Bryant's Sneaker History (1996-2020)".

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