Detroit — How could it possibly happen? Great question. How can they possibly recover? Better question.
The Pistons will lug regret and remorse into the offseason unless they can rebound from one of the most crushing losses imaginable. They had it in their hands, on the scoreboard, on their home floor, and then it was gone. The Cavaliers took it away, and yes, the Pistons also tossed it away.
A nine-point lead with three minutes left in the fourth quarter evaporated in a mess of missed defensive assignments, blown opportunities, and sure enough, a blown call. Cleveland rallied to tie and then pulled away in overtime, 117-113, Wednesday night at raucous Little Caesars Arena to take a 3-2 series lead.
The Pistons collapsed agonizingly, astonishingly, failing to score in the final three minutes of regulation after taking a 103-94 lead. Game 6 is Friday night in Cleveland and the Pistons’ season hangs in the balance. It wouldn’t be wise to count them out because this is what they do. They make it hard — on the opponent and sometimes on themselves.
But honestly, it’s hard to see them recovering — physically, emotionally — to win two straight. Cleveland is 6-0 at home in these playoffs, although a potential Game 7 would be in Detroit. If the Pistons make it to Sunday, I’d like their chances. But they’ll be stepping into a cauldron at Rocket Arena Friday night, and you wonder if they’ll be ready for it.
“There’s a lot of plays I wish I could take back,” said Cade Cunningham, who was in the middle of everything, as always. “It’s basketball, an imperfect game. I made a lot of mistakes tonight, as a team we made some mistakes. Giving up that lead and not executing down the stretch is what really hurt.”
That’s the sting that won’t go away, not unless the Pistons make it go away with a bounce-back. The confounding part is, it didn’t even take superhuman efforts from Cavs stars James Harden (30 points) and Donovan Mitchell (21). They shot 4-for-18 from 3-point range, but once again got to the free-throw line, combining to go 17-for-20.
The game was lost in the narrow margins. Cunningham was his dominant self with 39 points — 6-for-10 on 3-pointers — but was harassed by the Cavs’ double-teaming pressure in the fourth quarter and overtime. The Pistons were one player short (Duncan Robinson was out with a back injury), and ultimately one play short, one shot short, one rebound short. And yes, one call short.
The Cavs were playing for the final shot tied at 103, and as the clock neared zero, Ausar Thompson swatted the ball from Mitchell. Thompson chased it and reached for it when the Cavs’ Jarrett Allen tripped him from behind.
It was a foul just about any time in a game. It was not called a foul in the final second of a playoff game. J.B. Bickerstaff said it was a “clear” foul, but while the Pistons fumed, they resisted the temptation to pass the blame.
“We can’t look at the refs to get us a win, even if it was a foul or not,” Thompson said. “We could’ve done more to put ourselves in a better position.”
No doubt about that. The Pistons led by 15 in the first half and had the game in their grasp a half-dozen times in the closing minutes, and let it slip away. The final gut punch came on a simple botched blockout by Cunningham, as Harden grabbed his own missed free throw with a three-point lead. He was fouled and made the free throw with 18.8 seconds left to clinch it.
In the immediate aftermath, devastation for the Pistons. But they did not talk like a broken team, and reminded everyone how they supposedly were done when they trailed Orlando 3-1 in the first round.
“You’re going to have to choke the life out of this team,” Bickerstaff said. “We’re not going to go down without a fight. We’re not going to go down without kicking, punching, grabbing clawing — that’s just who we are. We’ve been in this position before and we were able to work our way through it. I expect our guys to be ready mentally to go out and compete at a high level and bring this thing back here.”
They competed at a high level most of this game, which was chaotic and controversial at times. It took a while, but the Cavs finally exploited the Pistons’ weakness. Bickerstaff tried all sorts of options to complement Cunningham, and Daniss Jenkins (19 points) was especially effective. So was Paul Reed, who came off the bench to collect 10 points and eight rebounds, while the struggling Jalen Duren sat the entire fourth quarter and overtime.
The Cavs got 20 points from Max Strus (6-for-8 on 3s) and a huge 3 from Evan Mobley late in regulation. The Pistons (11-for-33 from long range) couldn’t quite match the Cavs’ shooting, especially in the clutch. Mitchell was 1-for-8, but his lone 3 put the Cavs on top 110-105 in OT.
“Man, we just made big plays,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. “I think that stretch right there says a lot about our progress — mental performance progress and mental toughness progress. We kept at it. Evan Mobley, huge plays. Max Strus, huge plays.”
The Pistons made some huge defensive plays, with Reed and Thompson constantly swatting. But once the Cavs turned up on the heat on Cunningham — he was 4-for-10 in the fourth quarter and overtime — the Pistons were short on answers.
Pistons’ elite defense wilted
Their elite defense normally saves them, but it wilted against Cleveland’s elite shot-makers, too often rotating poorly and leaving guys open.
“You ain’t supposed to lose a lead like that,” Jenkins said. “We gotta be better, gotta execute better. We definitely gave up too many timely 3s. The 2s don’t beat you there, the 3s do.”
And yet, it still looked like it was over, before it was really over. Reed blocked Mitchell’s shot and Jenkins raced in for a fastbreak layup and a 100-91 lead. With three minutes left, Tobias Harris drilled one of his classic corner 3s and the Pistons led 103-94. At that moment, the ESPN Gamecast put Detroit’s victory chances at 96.8%.
After a disheartening outcome like this, some might peg the Cavs’ chances of closing it out in Cleveland at, oh, 96.8%. But the Pistons dominated Game 6 in Orlando, and at least can draw on that.
“Definitely stings,” Cunningham said. “I thought we did a lot of good things, put us in a position to win, just didn’t play at the level it takes to win this game. … At the end of day, if we can’t win a game on the road, how far are we really gonna get in the playoffs? How far are we gonna get in this league? Gotta go win a game on the road, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”
It would be a remarkable recovery if they pull it off. To pull it off, they can’t tense up at closing time, they can’t leave shooters wide open, and they can’t spend another minute lamenting how they had a prime chance, and inexplicably squandered it.
Bob.wojnowski@detroitnews.com
@bobwojnowski
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Wojo: How do Pistons recover from all-time disastrous loss?
Reporting by Bob Wojnowski, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
