By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The bank is open on a Wednesday night in Miami, Florida.
With only five seconds remaining and the score tied at 113-all in a nip-and-tuck showdown between Detroit and Miami, bonafide superstar Cade Cunnigham came to the rescue and swished an insane off-the-board three-pointer game-winner to lead the Pistons to a thrilling 116-113 win on March 20, 2025, in the ongoing NBA regular season.
After a series of lead changes in the last two minutes, it all came down to the wire as Cunningham stunned the whole Kaseya Center when he banked his three-point attempt against the tough defense of Bam Adebayo.
Without any timeouts left, the Heat only had 0.6 seconds to generate a shot and failed to pull off any miracle stunts as the Pistons sent them to their longest losing streak of the NBA season to nine consecutive defeats.
It was a pure take-over performance for Cunningham after carrying the Pistons in the final two minutes of the intense Eastern Conference battle.
Down by a point in the final minute, Cunningham kicked off his heroics with a big triple that put Detroit back ahead, 113-111.
The Heat wouldn’t be denied, as Tyler Herro was able to foul bait Detroit’s Jalen Duren off a jump shot fake, which resulted in two made free throws.
Cunningham then silenced the loud Kayesa Center when he dropped the huge trey bomb to improve Detroit’s win-loss record to 39-31 while protecting the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference.
Aside from his clutch performance, Cunningham also stuffed the stat sheets with a massive triple-double, tallying 25 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, two blocks, and a steal.
He also made history after becoming the fourth player to drop two triple-doubles against the Heat, joining an elite company with James Harden, Domantas Sabonis, and Nikola Jokic.
The Heat looked to be in control of the game for three straight quarters and even established a 12-point lead in the first frame.
Reeling to get out of the mud with eight straight losses, the duo of Bam Adebayo and Herro torched the Pistons with their efficient two-man pick-and-roll game. However, Detroit woke up in the second quarter and started to nail open threes that sparked their comeback in the game.
The second half turned into a mano-a-mano affair as neither team built a comfortable advantage. A total of eight lead changes happened, with the Heat appearing to have some moments in the fourth after Herro knocked down a couple of big shots.
Unfortunately for Miami, Cunningham turned on the jets in the fourth and single-handedly changed the tempo of the game with his two-way efficiency.
Backstopping Cunningham in the hard-fought win was the trio of Malik Beasley, Duren, and Ausar Thompson who chipped in 16, 15, and 14 points, respectively.
On the other hand, Miami is left searching for more answers after dropping their ninth straight loss in a month and has yet to return to the NBA winning column since March 4, 2025.
