Cade Cunningham's "never die mentality" saves Pistons' season

Not tonight, Cade Cunningham decided. Not like this.

"I don't want the season to end right now," Cunningham said after the Pistons staved off elimination against the Magic, "so gotta put it all on the line."

The season will continue Friday night in Orlando because Cunningham seized Wednesday night in Detroit. Paolo Banchero tried to wrest it from him in a prize fight between two of the NBA's best young players, but Cunningham refused to let go. On his own terms, in his own way, Cunningham scored 45 points, a franchise playoff record, in the Pistons' 116-109 win over the Magic in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

He stopped and popped from beyond the arc. He bobbed and weaved to the basket. He pulled up, he faded away, and he threw down a left-handed jam while taking a shot to the face. He reached deep in his bag and pulled out a performance that will be preserved for years, even if it only prolongs the season by a couple days. Cade was Cunning on Wednesday night, while going Ham, excuse the expression. As J.B. Bickerstaff likes to say, he was Him.

So was Banchero, with 45 points of his own. The fellow No. 1 pick, taken one year after Cade, made shot after shot in the fourth quarter to force Cunningham to close. He obliged. With the Pistons clinging to a three-point lead, desperate for a bucket with about 30 seconds to go, Cunningham drove to his right, crossed over between his legs to shake Desmond Bane Jr. and stepped back for a jumper from 15 feet. Little Caesars Arena held its breath as his shot arched through the air, and exploded when it swished through the net.

"Never die mentality," Cunningham said. "Just wanted to have a controlled aggression all night, and make sure they felt me."

It can be easy to take Cunningham's greatness for granted, maybe because he doesn't score in the loudest, flashiest ways. But there's a serenity to his game that serves him in games like this.

"To know the moment, understand the moment, and then just do whatever was necessary to help us get that win, that's why he's special," said Bickerstaff. "To lead this team, lead this organization, lead us, lead the fans, that's who he is, and he just has the ability to do that. ... He wasn't going to let us go down tonight."

Isaiah Stewart looked up at the scoreboard after Cunningham's last bucket. He saw the number next to his name -- 45 -- and almost shrugged, "like, OK, this is what you do,"" said Stewart. Ausar Thompson had to laugh. Soaking his right foot in an ice bath after a terrific performance of his own, Thompson tried to wrap his head around the fact that Cunningham had put the Pistons on his back for 44 minutes just a few weeks after returning from a collapsed lung.

"I almost forgot that happened," said Thompson. "Cade is a solider. He never complains. He leads the team and he never blames anyone. So this isn't surprising at all. This is just the person he is."

"He's built for the moment," said Stewart. "This is what he does. This is how he's been since Day 1, being a rookie. He takes on any challenge and he's always calm about it and he does it to the best of his ability."

Cunningham has looked tired at times throughout this series, including in the fourth quarter of Game 4 in Orlando. He's been unusually sloppy with the ball, swarmed by Orlando's defense. He sighed and said he still committed too many turnovers (6) in Game 5. But he wasn't giving this one away. He was efficient from the field, precise from three, and perfect from the line, where he hit all 14 of his free throws.

A master facilitator, Cunningham loves to distribute the ball. But it belonged in his hands Wednesday night, and everyone knew it. It might be the only way this flawed team escapes this fraught series.

"He kept getting to his spots and shots just kept falling," said Stewart. "He wasn’t sped up. He went at his own pace. And once he’s doing that, once he's in the zone, nobody can stop him."

The Pistons remain on the brink in this first-round series, an uncomfortable place for a team that won 60 games this season. Cunningham will have to guide them through two more storms, just to avert disaster. It might be too much to ask in the end, though Franz Wagner's absence for Orlando certainly improves Detroit's chances.

Either way, Cunningham won't be fazed. At the age of 24, he plays and speaks like a vet. He's grateful for the weight on his shoulders, he said, because "not everybody is blessed with those types of opportunities to have pressure, and to have things on the line like that."

"A lot of times I feel undeserving of the great moments I get to be a part of," Cunningham said. "Just thankful for it, and try to make the most of them.”

He wears a pad around his ribs to protect his lung. With the Pistons gasping for air, Cunningham breathed life back into their season. He took blows around the rim, and traded punches with Banchero. He stood tall. The 1 seed has been staggered, and still might go down.

But No. 2 will have something to say.

Asked how he feels in his comeback from his injury, Cunningham smiled and said, "I feel strong -- and stronger."