Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren are credited with saving the All-Star game
Much has been written in recent weeks about the decline in the entertainment value of the All-Star Game due to the diminishing efforts of the players involved. However, no one can ever say that it is Representatives of the Detroit Pistons for the 2026 NBA All-Star Game, Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren from Team USA Stars, never refused to give their all even for just one second they spent on the court.
Neither of them may have won the 2026 NBA All-Star Game MVP, but both Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons The Ringer is credited with the Pistons star duo for just to be real competitors for the love of the game.
“I thought the Detroit guys really cared and that’s why the game was good,” Simmons said on Sunday night’s edition of the Bill Simmons Podcast.
“That’s what you like about the Pistons,” Lowe added. “Fighting Charlotte is the downside of who they are, but also the upside of who they are, they legitimately just want to beat the hell out of you and physically throw you out, and touch you and want to make you quit.
All systems go for a deep playoff run in 2026 for the Pistons?
The Pistons got a taste of postseason action in 2025, falling in six games to the New York Knicks in the first round. But now they’ve grown even more, emerging as one of the toughest teams to beat in the NBA on a night-to-night basis.
Detroit just wants to swallow their opponents wholeand that nightly intensity on the defensive end makes them so stifling to play against. Both Cunningham and Duren set the tone for Team Stars, which certainly played a role in why they beat Team Stripes, 47-21, in the final game of the night.
2026-02-16 07:47:00
