DETROIT – The Mavericks ran into an All-Star buzzsaw from Detroit’s Cade Cunningham Friday night.
Fresh off the news that he was named an All-Star for the first time when reserves were announced Thursday, the Arlington native celebrated with a 40-piece against the Mavericks as the Pistons overran the Mavericks in the second half for a 117-102 victory at Little Caesars Arena.
The Mavericks could not contain Cunningham, who hit 17-of-30 shots and had lots of help from Jalen Duren and Tobias Harris.
The Mavericks also could not stop the Pistons in the paint or on the offensive glass despite 28 points from Kyrie Irving and strong nights from Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington.
The Mavericks fell to 26-23 while the Pistons climbed to .500 at 24-24.
The loss marred the season debut of Dante Exum, who suffered a right wrist injury in training camp that required surgery.
Exum returned at the start of the second quarter and quickly dished out a nice assist to Daniel Gafford for an easy bucket.
Coach Jason Kidd played Exum in brief spurts, largely because he is on a 15-minute restriction as the works his way back into shape and tests out the wrist.
And Exum had to survive a scary moment in the second half when he went up on a drive to the basket and hit the floor hard, bracing himself with his right hand. He came up flexing the wrist, but stayed in the game.
I’m mad at myself for doing it, but I feel like it’s a hat’s off to me and the rehab team,” Exum said. “It shows we did our job and I can come back and fall on it and still get back up. So no fear going into the next game. Just come back stronger.”
Exum said he was thrilled to finally be back on the court after an arduous rehab process after getting hurt on a dunk on the first day of training camp. He had not had any five-on-five work before Friday since camp.
“It’s definitely a long road, a lot of ups and downs,” he said. “The work just to get back to this point has been a lot. Unfortunately, I wish we could have got a win, that would have been nice icing on the cake. I still got a lot of work to do. Hopefully I can get back to my old self as soon as possible.”
Jason Kidd said that the fall Exum took should not overshadow his play.
“The pace, the things he did for us, he was part of that group that helped us get back in the game, so a lot of positive things,” Kidd said. “He came out healthy so we’ll see how many minutes he can go (in Cleveland on Sunday).
“He’s a guy who can set the table, can push it, plays defense, can make the open shot. We missed him in a big way, so we’re happy to have him back.”
There were times last season when the 6-5 Exum was in lineups that finished close games, but Kidd said it’s too early to know if that will become a reality again.
“We would love to, but we’re just going to take today and get through his 15 minutes and hope that he comes out clean before we can think about end-of-game lineups and who he plays best with,” he said. “We’re just happy to have him back. Hopefully we can get to that point where he can be in that closing group, but we’re a ways away from that.”
At the very least, it gave the Mavericks an additional ballhandler to alleviate some of the pressure off of Irving, who had his hands full trying to lead a Mavericks’ comeback in the second half.
“It’s good to have him back and log some minutes with him,” Irving said. “It’s been a long time. I was excited for him. He did well. It’s good to see him back. We lost him on Day One of training camp.”
As for the game, the Mavericks were manhandled in the paint in the fourth quarter, when the Pistons had eight offensive rebounds, eight second-chance points and 18 points in the paint.
“They were the more physical team tonight and we can’t really afford to let that happen right now,” said Washington, who had 22 points and 13 rebounds. “They obviously hurt us on the glass and just wanted it more on that end. We can’t give up easy second chance points like that.”
The Mavericks were down 81-70 midway through the third quarter. When former Maverick Tim Hardaway Jr. nailed a corner three-pointer with 4:30 left in the third, the Pistons’ advantage was 84-71 and it grew to 15 points before O-Max Prosper hit a three-pointer.
That was the beginning of a nice flourish for the Mavericks at the end of the third period. Irving helped get the margin back into single digits going into the fourth quarter at 93-85.
But the final 12 minutes were not kind to the Mavericks.
“They played well,” Kidd said of the Pistons. “They were physical. We made a run and just couldn’t get over the hump. Give them credit. Detroit was really good.”
Second-quarter struggles left the Mavericks in a 62-58 hole at the half, but it could have been worse. Gafford came through with two huge blocked shots in the final 45 seconds of the half. First he rejected Jalen Duren on an attempted lob dunk. Then he met Ausar Thompson, who was racing in on the baseline for a windmill dunk, and stopped his progress in midair.
That could have been a bigger spark, Kidd said.
“There was a sequence there right before halftime where (Gafford) blocked a shot and we missed a layup,” he said. “P.J. had a good look. It just didn’t go down. I don’t think we were very good in our transition game. We got to be better. We had a lot of opportunities and we just didn’t capitalize.”
And then, the Cunningham show ensued in the second half. when he had 22 points.
“He’s good,” Kidd said. “You can see he’s found his rhythm, being able to use his right and left. That’s why he’s an All-Star.”
X: @ESefko
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