Three stars from Monday's slate of NBA playoff games

Cunningham stayed cool during the Knicks' relentless fourth quarter comeback. While the Knicks kept scoring and the Pistons' shooting went cold, Cunningham protected the ball, got to the foul line, grabbed key rebounds and found Jalen Duren for a late alley-oop to give the Pistons a key late bucket. 

Cunningham-to-Duren was the most frequent alley-oop combination in the NBA last season, and "Motorcade" dialed up the play at the perfect time.

Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard | 39 points, 15-for-19 shooting

The 33-year-old Leonard looked like the 23-year-old Leonard who won Finals MVP in 2014. Leonard only missed four shots all game, making a big jumper in the final minute to give the Clippers a three-point lead. Then, guarding Russell Westbrook and essentially playing free safety, he stole a Nikola Jokic pass to ice the game.

Leonard barely hit the rim on his early shots, starting off by making 12 of his first 13 shots. He didn't just knock down jumpers. Leonard baffled Aaron Gordon all game, faking drives and getting himself wide-open shots in isolation.

But even when there were three defenders trying to stop Leonard, he still sunk the shot. It was an otherworldly shooting night from Leonard, and his team needed every one of those 15 made shots in the Clippers' 105-102 win.

Los Angeles Clippers center Ivica Zubac | 16 points, 12 rebounds

Jokic may have logged a triple-double on Monday night, but the Clippers center made him work for it. The Nuggets center shot 8-for-16, but Zubac forced The Joker to take eight of those shots behind the arc and helped force seven turnovers from the big man.

Zubac got 37.55 of his team's rebounds, deterred the Nuggets from driving and, despite the TNT broadcasters' insistence that he was getting tired out, Zubac logged 40 minutes and avoided fouling out.

Arguably, the Clippers could have passed to Zubac more often, as he shot 6-for-10, but on a night where Leonard was scoring like that, perhaps the team was better served using Zubac for his screens and passing (he had four assists).