Player of the Week

Cade Cunningham (DET) is our Player of the Week for the first round of the playoffs.

Down 3-1 to the eighth-seeded Magic and one loss away from a historic upset, the top-seeded Pistons handed Cunningham the keys and watched him deliver three of the best games of his career. Detroit had not won a playoff series in 18 years coming into this run, and Cunningham knew it.

Game 5 set the tone. Facing elimination at home, he poured in a franchise playoff-record 45 points on 13-of-23 shooting, including a step-back jumper with 32 seconds left to seal a 116-109 win. Two nights later in Orlando, the Pistons trailed by 24 at halftime. Cunningham scored 19 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter and added 10 rebounds and 4 steals, anchoring a defensive shutdown that produced a 93-79 escape. Game 7 belonged to the playmaker side of his game: 32 points and 12 assists in a 116-94 demolition that closed the series.

Across the three elimination games he averaged 36.3 points, 6.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds on 51.6% from the field and 61.1% from three, well above his regular-season splits. For the series he joined Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Jerry West and Oscar Robertson as the only players with 225+ points and 50+ assists in a single playoff series. Detroit moves to the conference semifinals carrying a 19.8% championship probability in our model.