NBA: Cade Cunningham earns Rising Stars MVP honors

Detroit Pistons rookie guard Cade Cunningham led Team Barry to a 25-20 win over Team Isiah to take home the first-ever Rising Stars Tournament title on Friday, Feb. 18 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland. The new-look event created three competitive games and kicked off All-Star Weekend in style. Cunningham earned MVP honors after combining for 18 points, a team-high nine assists, and seven rebounds in two games. Team Barry, who finished the championship on a 13-2 run including Franz Wagner's game-winning free throw, also touted a pair of hometown Cleveland Cavaliers as Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro got the crowd going early and often. Mobley totaled 18 points and 11 rebounds.

In the opening semifinal matchup, Team Isiah defeated Team Worthy 50-49 as Saddiq Bey scored 16 points and Pistons teammate Isaiah Stewart racked up 10 points and six rebounds. Jalen Green looked to take advantage of the relatively lackluster defense, scoring a game-high on 8/13 shooting from the field. Jalen Suggs added 16 points, including a fastbreak 360-degree dunk, in the loss. Bey also set-up Anthony Edwards for a flashy alley-oop flush of his own to wake up the crowd as both teams tried to push the pace in the opening minutes. Edwards scored on the next possession as well, spinning off a close-out and laying in a smooth finger roll but finished with just four points and one assist.

Minnesota Timberwolves teammate Jaden McDaniels made the most of his opportunity in the second semifinal, opening the scoring with a corner triple and a nice euro-step around Mobley. Cunningham later hit Isaac Okoro for a one-handed slam before drilling a 3-pointer to extend Team Barry's lead. Jae'Sean Tate closed out the win with a hanging layup off the high glass. McDaniels went for a team-high 12 points in the loss. Cunningham and Mobley combined for 26 points and 13 rebounds in the semifinal. Team Isiah got off to a quick start in the championship but couldn’t hang on as Team Barry caught fire behind Cunningham's stellar play, capturing the inaugural title in downtown Cleveland.

"The ball was in my hands and I wanted to make sure that everybody was able to showcase themselves. Winning it all was what the goal was so for everybody to contribute to that, that's all we really wanted. It means a lot. This is a game I was looking forward to, to be around so much big-time talent, to have fun and compete. I'm not starstruck anymore. I kind of look at myself as one of those guys now," Cunningham said in the press conference following the championship. "Felt good to get the win so I'm happy we were able to pull it out. I feel like we had a team to do it and we had to come out and prove ourselves. I'm glad we did that," Cunningham explained in the postgame on-court interview.

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Photo Credit: Bleacher Report.