A dream Detroit Pistons season ended with a nightmare.
Nothing went right for the Pistons in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, May 17. They struggled to make shots. Their defense never showed up. The flaws apparent during the regular season were magnified on their home floor as the Cavaliers delivered blow after blow after blow and ran away with, what else, a blowout victory, 125-94
They shot just 35.3% overall and 30.8% from 3 in an all-around putrid offensive performance with the season on the line. A team that formed its identity around defensive intensity and extra efforts lacked both in front of their home crowd. The 29-point loss is the franchise’s worst in a Game 7 by orders of magnitude; the previous worst had been a seven-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 7 of the 2005 NBA Finals.
Daniss Jenkins led the way with 17 points. Cade Cunningham had his worst effort of the playoffs, with just 13 points, five assists and four rebounds. He missed all six of his shots in the second half and scored just a single point in the last 24 minutes.
The Cavaliers got standout performances from Donovan Mitchell (26 points, eight assists, seven rebounds), Jarrett Allen (23 points, seven rebounds) and Sam Merrill (23 points, 5-for-8 from 3). Evan Mobley also had a strong all-around game with 21 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two steals.
Offensive shortcomings bite in elimination game
With 5:51 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Pistons facing a 34-point deficit, Cunningham knocked down a technical free throw following an altercation between Thompson and Max Strus. It was Cunningham’s first – and last – point of the second half amid a team-wide collapse. He checked out for good afterward, finishing the half 0-for-6 from the floor with two turnovers, a rebound, a steal and zero assists.
Among the Pistons’ many issues Sunday night, Cunningham’s no-show second half was just one of them. But it highlighted the contrast between the Cavaliers, who got contributions up and down their roster throughout the series from sharpshooters Merrill and Strus, their Allen-Mobley big tandem and of course, Mitchell and James Harden.
Throughout the playoffs, the Pistons leaned on Cunningham to deliver big performances. More often than not, he did so. But whether they would get adequate help from the rest of the roster was a nightly question. On Sunday, even Cunningham had no answers.
He was the only Pistons player with double-digit points at halftime. After an encouraging Game 6 performance, Jalen Duren tallied just seven points and nine rebounds. Tobias Harris, who opened the playoffs scoring 20-plus in eight straight games, lost his touch in Games 5-7 and finished with just five points on 0-for-6 shooting Sunday. Paul Reed, who reached double-digit scoring in four straight games leading into Sunday, scored just four points.
The Pistons’ lack of defense was a bigger surprise than the offense, which was reliant on transition opportunities driven by their disruption during the regular season. This team wasn’t built to survive an off night from Cunningham, and it proved costly with the season on the line.
Pistons come out flat, buried in 1st half
It was an evenly matched game for roughly seven minutes. The Cavaliers missed their first six 3-pointers and the Pistons tied it at 13 with 4:34 on the clock following a steal and fastbreak layup by Caris LeVert.
But the Cavs caught fire from the arc to close the quarter, knocking down six of their next seven attempts. They made four in a row in the last 2:31 of the first, capped with a halfcourt 3-pointer from Mitchell. The Pistons entered the second quarter facing a 31-22 deficit. They wouldn’t get much closer the rest of the way.
At halftime, the Pistons trailed 64-47 while shooting 38.1% overall to Cleveland’s 52.4%. Defensively, they were unable to summon their trademark physicality and lacked execution, repeatedly giving up open 3-pointers. Allen and Merrill were the heroes of the first half for Cleveland, each scoring 15 points and dominating their respective matchups. Merrill was 4-for-6 from 3, and all of Allen’s possessions seemingly ended with an open layup or dunk, or trip to the free throw line.
The second quarter was one of their worst efforts of the last calendar year, hitting just eight of 22 field goal tries (36.4%) while repeatedly putting the Cavaliers on the line. The Pistons only had six free throw attempts in the quarter; Cleveland took 17. The only saving grace for the Pistons is that the Cavaliers struggled to knock them down, making 11 of them.
In the second half, the Pistons trailed by at least 16 the entire way. After Duncan Robinson cut it to 85-69 with a 3-pointer at the 3:54 mark of the third quarter, the Cavaliers responded with a quick 10-0 run to extend their lead to 26 and end any hopes of a Pistons comeback.
Next up for the Pistons
Like so many springs before, the Pistons will spend the rest of May and June getting ready for the NBA Draft, set for June 23-24 at Barclays Center in New York. The Pistons have just one pick, No. 21 overall, as a result of a pick swap with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Jaden Ivey/Kevin Huerter trade in February.
The Cavaliers, meanwhile, are headed to the East finals for the first time since 2018, also their last trip to the NBA Finals. They’ll face the New York Knicks in a best-of-seven series starting Tuesday; New York is looking for its first NBA Finals trip this century.
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons flop in brutal Game 7 loss to Cavaliers in East semi
Reporting by Omari Sankofa II, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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