Cade Cunningham dismisses Jalen Green's trash talk: 'It was all for the cameras'
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey – It's a rivalry that has been building up since the NBA Draft Day.
Jalen Green made it no secret that he was stung after the Detroit Pistons made Cade Cunningham the top overall pick. After Green, the athletic Houston rookie of Filipino descent, led the Rockets to a Summer League win over Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons, he didn't mince words.
"My chip is super big. It started at draft night when I got drafted number two. I felt I was number one," Green said in the post-game interview.
There was no love lost when they faced off in their first regular-season showdown last Wednesday night (Thursday, Manila time) in Houston.
Cunningham returned the favor as he shrugged off a slow start and early foul trouble to help the Pistons grab a 112-104 win over Green's Rockets.
The nationally televised game in the US was hyped as the showdown between the top two picks. It was as good as advertised. And so much more.
The rivalry heated up in late the third quarter when Green blew by Cunningham and threw down a monster slam from the baseline that tied the game at 73. Green stared down on Cunningham and taunted him with some choice words earning him a technical foul.
Jalen green with the blow by dunk on Cunningham, then gets a tech pic.twitter.com/sz5Jc6DJyi
— BAUSKETBALL (@bausketball) November 11, 2021
The Rockets super rookie scored 12 of his 23 points in the third quarter keeping his team within striking distance.
But the Pistons handcuffed Green in the fourth quarter to pull out the win. Green missed his four shots in the fourth quarter, all from downtown. He was 3 for 8 overall from the three-point line and was 8 of 20 from the field. But Green was perfect from the line, hitting all his four free throws. He added five rebounds and two assists for good measure.
When asked about what he said to Cunningham after his highlight dunk, Green downplayed the heated moment.
"It happened. It's basketball at the end of the day," said Green, who sported a black Yao Ming t-shirt before and after the game. "I don't remember exactly what I said. It was just the intensity of the game. I was getting fired up, just trying to get a dub, that's all."
Cunningham had his revenge in the fourth quarter when he hit a key triple and a clutch layup that gave the Pistons a 108-104 cushion with 1:50 left. The Pistons rookie finished with 20 points on 8 of 18 shooting, including going 4 for 8 from downtown. He laced up his complete game with four rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block.
Then he reveled in his first official win against his fierce rival in the NBA, taking a jab on Green's game antics.
"Nothing that I heard tonight carried any real weight to me. It was all for the cameras, I thought," said Cunningham. "I wasn't tripping on anything. I was just trying to play the game."
It sure looks the top two picks are not buddy-buddy like most of the previous top two picks. It remains to be seen whether Cunningham and Green will become just the third top two picks to become All-Stars since 2000 after Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell in 2015, and Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram in 2016.
The next Cunningham-Green showdown will be on December 18 in Detroit.
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Alder Almo is a former senior sportswriter for Philstar.com and NBA.com Philippines. He is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and writes for the New York-based sports website empiresportsmedia.com.
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