To the surprise of many of their critics, the Detroit Pistons have fared well since Cade Cunningham suffered a collapsed lung.

With his timetable still uncertain as the regular season enters the final stretch, the Pistons have taken the adversity head-on and have gone 4-1 in the games without Cunningham.

The Pistons’ lone loss came in a 130-129 overtime thriller against the Atlanta Hawks, in which Jalen Duren’s put-back shot in the final seconds came up an inch short.

During Cunningham’s absence, these three Pistons players have stepped up in a major way for Detroit, as they look to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time since the 2006-07 season. 

Jalen Duren

A candidate for the NBA’s Most Improved Player of the Year, Jalen Duren, has put together an extraordinary season for the Pistons. In addition to averaging 19.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game for the Pistons, Duren has shown true leadership during Cunningham’s absence. 

In the five games that Cunningham has been absent, Duren has scored 20-plus points in every matchup, including recording four double-doubles. If Cunningham is to return for the Pistons in the postseason, Duren will also play a crucial role in leading Detroit to a deep playoff run.  

Daniss Jenkins

Over the last five games, the Pistons have seen the emergence of guard Daniss Jenkins. What started with an impressive performance in the Pistons’ win over the Golden State Warriors was immediately followed by Jenkins scoring a career-high 30 points in Detroit’s thrilling 113-110 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night. 

The emergence of Daniss Jenkins has been one of the top storylines for the Pistons this season, as last year, Jenkins was averaging only 1.0 points per game in only seven games played. Now, with the Pistons preparing for the postseason with the possibility of not having Cunningham, Jenkins could be an unsung hero for Detroit in the postseason.  

Tobias Harris

The Pistons’ third-leading scorer, Tobias Harris, has also played a key role for Detroit without Cunningham. In the games that Harris has been absent from the Pistons, Harris has scored in double figures in four of those contests. 

In the Pistons’ comeback that fell short against the Hawks in overtime, Harris played a critical role in leading Detroit to force overtime, as he finished the game with 22 points, three rebounds, and three assists, while shooting over 52.9 percent from the field. 

Entering the postseason, Harris’ performance could be a key x-factor in the Pistons’ chances of making a deep playoff run. In the Pistons’ first-round playoff series loss against the New York Knicks last season, Harris averaged 15.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

The San Antonio Spurs can clinch no worse than the Western Conference’s No. 2 playoff seed with a victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in an afternoon matinee game on Amazon.San Antonio is heavily favored with a moneyline of -2500, while Milwaukee is at +1100.

How to watch San Antonio Spurs vs. Milwaukee Bucks

• Time: 3 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. PT

• Where: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wis.

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Team records

• San Antonio Spurs: 55-18 (No. 1 in Southwest Division)

• Milwaukee Bucks: 29-43 (No. 3 in Central Division)

Odds

• Spread: San Antonio Spurs -18.5

• Moneyline: Milwaukee Bucks +1100) / San Antonio Spurs -2500

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Organizers of Saturday’s “No Kings” rallies across the country are predicting that the protests against the actions of President Donald Trump and his administration could add up to one of the largest demonstrations in U.S. history, with Minnesota taking center stage.

Organizers say more than 3,100 events have been registered in all 50 states, with more than 9 million people expected to participate.

And they’ve designated the rally at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul as the national flagship event, in recognition of how the state where federal agents fatally shot two people who were monitoring Trump’s immigration crackdown became an epicenter of resistance.

Headlining that observance will be Bruce Springsteen, performing “Streets of Minneapolis,” which he wrote in response to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and in tribute to the thousands of Minnesotans who took to the streets over the winter. Springsteen’s Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour, which has a “No Kings” theme, kicks off Tuesday in Minneapolis.

Minnesota organizers have told state officials they expect 100,000 people could converge on the Capitol grounds, where last June’s event drew an estimated 80,000 people.

The St. Paul rally will also feature singer Joan Baez, actor Jane Fonda,Sen. Bernie Sanders and a long list of other activists, labor leaders and elected officials.

The White House dismissed the nationwide protests as the product of “leftist funding networks” with little real public support.

“The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

Rallies are also planned in more than a dozen other countries, from Europe to Latin America to Australia, Ezra Levin, a co-executive director of Indivisible, a group spearheading the events, said in an interview. Countries with constitutional monarchies call the protests “No Tyrants,” he said.

For those unable to attend in person, another activist group, Stand Up For Science, is hosting a “virtual and accessible” event online.

National organizers told reporters in an online news conference Thursday that they expect Saturday’s protests to be larger than the first two rounds of No Kings rallies, which they estimate drew more than 5 million people in June and more than 7 million in October.

“This administration’s actions are angering not just Democratic voters or folks in big blue city centers – they are crossing a line for people in red and rural areas, in the suburbs, all over the country,” said Leah Greenberg, the other co-executive director of Indivisible. “The defining story of this Saturday’s mobilization is not just how many people are protesting, but where they are protesting,”

Two-thirds of the RSVPs have come from outside of major urban centers, Greenberg said, listing registration surges in conservative-leaning states like Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, South Dakota and Louisiana, as well in competitive suburban areas of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona.

“Millions of us are rising up from all walks of life, from rural communities to big cities at No Kings,” said Katie Bethell, executive director of MoveOn, another major organizer. “And as we do so, we will send the loudest, clearest message yet that this country does not belong to kings, dictators, tyrants. It belongs to us.”