DETROIT -- You can learn from watching, which is something Cade Cunningham was forced to do this spring, as the Pistons' All-Star leader sat for nearly three weeks recovering from a partially collapsed lung he suffered in a game in mid-March.
But what you learn from watching often just reinforces what you already know. And in Cunningham's case, what he saw as his teammates went 8-3 in his absence to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs really was no surprise.
"The connectivity, the connectiveness, connectedness -- whatever the word is -- it's all of it," he said, smiling at his own word play after the Pistons finished another practice ahead of Sunday's Game 1 tipoff at Little Caesars Arena. "But more than anything, I think it's just seeing what other teams see, as far as our identity, our toughness, and the chaos that we bring. It's hard to play against. And I was watching, like, 'Yeah, we look tough to play against.' "
They'll get a chance to prove it beginning this weekend. But as a 60-win Pistons team enters this year's postseason, they'll carry with them more than just the No. 1 seed or the added motivation that comes from all the national pundits predicting Boston or Cleveland or even New York to come out of the East.
They'll also bring the experience gained from last year's first-round playoff loss to the Knicks, a tight, six-game series that announced Detroit's arrival as a legitimate contender. And if you ask Cunningham, the lessons learned from doing that were invaluable.
"Yeah, just knowing playoff basketball is about physicality, the intentionality behind everything, how much everything means," he said Friday. "I mean, obviously coming off a tough loss last year, (we had) a chip on our shoulder to get better -- body-wise, skill set-wise. And I feel good about where everybody's at now."
It showed in their wire-to-wire run atop the East standings. It was obvious, too, in the Pistons' regular-season sweep of the Knicks, punctuated by Cunningham's emphatic MVP statement -- 42 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds -- at Madison Square Garden in February.
But it started back in the summer when he and his teammates attacked their offseason work with even more zeal, fueled by the knowledge they'd gained in that playoff debut. Even without an injured Isaiah Stewart, the Pistons practically played New York to a draw, winning twice on the road and losing three of the final four games by a combined six points. Yet it was in those narrow margins that they could finally see -- and feel -- what everyone meant when they talked about the difference between the regular season and what comes after.
"I mean, it's just the intensity and the importance of every possession," head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "You know, playoff basketball comes down to possession basketball, and the team that typically wins the possession game is the team that's going to win the game that night."
Cunningham learned that hard way, as the Knicks went to great lengths to disrupt his floor game -- early traps, blitzing ball screens, and physical play that turned every drive into a crash course for the Pistons' young focal point. He'd finish the series with 32 turnovers in all, and you could see the toll it took on his already-tired legs as his 3-point shooting (5 for 28) suffered in the playoffs.
"I mean, you see the same team over and over, so it's really a chess match," said Cunningham, who still had his moments, including a dominant fourth-quarter performance to win Game 2 in New York. "You have to make adjustments on the fly, game to game, and then they're going to make adjustments as well. And you have to read those."
And like any good chess player, the 24-year-old Cunningham took the loss to heart and studied his every move before he went back to work in the offseason. He added more lean-muscle mass to his 6-foot-6, 220-pound frame "because he understood just how physical it was going to be," his coach says, "and just how dominant he could be with his size, skill set and that added strength."
That helps him better control the center, to borrow another piece of chess strategy, whether it's initiating isolation offense from the middle of the floor or beating double teams to the punch with an early action. But it also helps Cunningham fight through traffic and finish.
"I feel it all over the place, really," he said. "I'm at a weight now that used to feel very heavy for me. But now I feel great."
And it shows, obviously. His shooting percentage at the rim improved this season. So did his free-throw rate and his offensive rebounding numbers. Defensively, Bickerstaff now feels the freedom to switch 1 through 4 -- or even 1 through 5, at times -- knowing that Cunningham, who doesn't get enough credit for his two-way ability, can body up some of the more talented bigs in the league.
"I think it's just growth," Bickerstaff said of his star, who was elated to learn Thursday that he'd won his appeal and now is eligible for league awards -- he should make first-team All-NBA and earn MVP votes -- despite finishing one game shy of the 65-game threshold. "You go into every summer trying to figure out what's the next thing that you need to do to improve? His skill set, we've seen. So now it's 'OK what's the next thing? What's the mental edge? What's the physical edge?' I think all the great ones go into every summer with that mindset and that's what he chose."
You lose, you choose. And now it's time for Cunningham and the Pistons to see just what that looks like in the playoffs again.