Keys to Defending Cade Cunningham

82 games down, and the New York Knicks are now set to begin their fourth postseason journey over the last five seasons.

This year’s first-round opponent is the Detroit Pistons, who bring with them a top-10 defense and a reputation for playing tough, hard-nosed basketball. But at the center of this team’s efforts to recreate yesteryears image of the “Bad Boy” Pistons is a smooth, swiss-army knife combo guard who can score at all three-levels and make every pass in the game.

Of course, I’m talking about Cade Cunningham. In this article, I’m going to go through a film study of how Cade gets to his shots, what he likes to do on the court, and how the Knicks can defend him.

Background: 

As I mentioned in the regular season’s conclusion of Knicks Pulse Check, the orange and blue played the Pistons four times this past season, losing three of those matchups. During those games, this is how head coach Tom Thibodeau chose to deploy his top defenders versus Cunningham:

Interestingly enough, of all the Knicks’ best defenders, Deuce McBride did not see a ton of time guarding the first-time All-star during three of the four matchups (1:28 as the primary defender).

And the fourth matchup (Knicks sat both OG and Josh Hart) didn’t go so well for Deuce as Cade dropped 17 of his 36 points on the fourth-year man out of West Virginia.

When you look at Cade’s shooting percentages at different spots on the court, you’ll see that he favors his right-hand, and is pretty efficient scoring from the mid-range. Using his heat map from 3Stepsbasket.com, Cunningham does his best work at the rim, converting 54 percent of his shots, and he is also shooting 47 percent from the mid-range from the post extended out.

During the trade deadline, the Pistons added both Lindy Waters and Dennis Schroder. Schroder will definitely make an impact. For his career, he’s averaged 11.9 points per game in the postseason, and will factor in providing Cade off-ball opportunities to score the ball.

Cade off-the-ball and snake dribble:

In the first clip, Isaiah Stewart, after fumbling the ball, runs toward Cunningham, sets a really good screen on Mikal Bridges, and executes a dribble-handoff on the left-wing side of the court. Stewart, as you’ll see in future clips, is really good about positioning his body so that defender has to slow down to go under/over the screen, or just gets stopped in his tracks as Bridges does.

If Mitchell Robinson is on the floor, he’s got to switch that screen without giving Cade a clear path to hit Stewart rolling to the rim. Not an easy task by any means, but easier for Mitch than Jericho Sims for sure.

In the second clip above, Cunningham using his snake dribble to create space to get to his fadeaway mid-range jumper as the Knicks are in drop coverage. KAT drops in both scenarios, and Bridges and OG Anunoby struggle to fight through screens set by both Jalen Duren and Stewart.

Honestly these are the shots I don’t mind Cade taking. I’d rather have him shoot at least somewhat contested mid-range jumpers as opposed to pull-up threes from the perimeter or drives to the rim. If KAT is going to be in the majority of these actions, the Knicks need to keep it simple for him: keep your hands up in drop coverage, and DON’T FOUL!! If the on-ball defender can get close to Cade and shade him to his left, even better.

Cade on ball/Spain pick-and-roll:

Cunningham loves getting to his pull-up three-point shot on either side of the court. The Pistons set two high-staggered screens to create space for him to either shoot or drive. In the clips below (first part of the tweet), you see the Knicks alternate having the on-ball defender go over the screens to try and run Cade off his spots. Problem is, Cade is so patient and good at using the pump-fake - he just dribbles inside the perimeter for an easier shot.

I’d argue that the last two clips (where both Josh Hart and PJ Tucker try to hedge on the screen) is what the Knicks want. They’re trying to force Cade under the three-point line and have him dribble into what we hope is Mitchell Robinson. Even with good execution, It’s difficult pick-your-poison because if you hedge too high or double-team, Cade can find his teammate slipping towards the basket for an easy bucket.

The second part of his tweet (above) includes variations of one of the most popular offensive sets run in the NBA: the spain-pick-and-roll. As mentioned above, the Pistons send both Malik Beasley (shooting 41.6 percent from the three-point line)and Time Hardaway Jr. (36.8 percent) to screen the help defender. In the first clip, the Knicks defend this action really well. Jericho Sims drops back in coverage to prevent Duren from getting the rebound, Bridges switches to THJ, and Jalen Brunson is just a little late getting to Cunningham before he hits the three.

The second clip features a small mistake from OG cheating a bit, assuming Cade is gonna go over the screen to his left. Instead, Cade drives to his right and the help is too late coming from the weakside of the ball.

Ultimately, Thibs’ defenses are going to need to have variations of doubling, hedging, and dropping in coverage to prevent from Cunningham from dominating the game.

I do think Thibs will start game one with Bridges on Cade. I think he may also deploy Anunoby on either of the Pistons’ bigs during certain points of the game to prevent the Pistons from targeting Jalen Brunson and KAT in pick-and-rolls.

In the end, the Knicks will have to play an aggressive and connected brand of defense that they’ve only managed to show us at certain points this season. They’re certainly capable of it, but their coaching staff and lockerroom leadership will be responsible for making sure they show up for Game 1. If not, this could be a long series.