CLEVELAND – They looked out of it, then got it back, then booted it away again. And just when it looked like the Detroit Pistons were finished, they found their way back once more.
They had the Cleveland Cavaliers where they wanted them: tie game, late, the ball in Cade Cunningham’s hands.
The Pistons star had closed the deal in the first two games of this second-round series and, despite an uneven and at times sloppy performance, had the chance to close them one more time.
Do that, and the series was over. But with 2:32 left and the score knotted at 104, Cunningham tried to inbound the ball to Daniss Jenkins and couldn’t. Max Strus stole the ball off an unfocused pass and sprinted the other way for a layup.
Whatever anxiety the Cavaliers were feeling after blowing a 17-point third-quarter lead was released in that moment. The bad pass was sandwiched between two other turnovers down the stretch from Cunningham, and those misplays cost the Pistons a chance to essentially end this series.
Instead, Cleveland’s got life, as they held on to beat the Pistons 116-109.
Cunningham didn’t shoot well all game. He can live with the missed shots late, especially when they come from his favorite spots. The best players in the history of this game have missed more than they’ve made at the end of postseason games.
And even then, it took a James Harden 3-pointer – hey, he had to subvert his playoff legacy at some point, right? − to finally swing the game.
But the turnovers? That’s got to change.
Cunningham is still learning. So are these Pistons. Mostly that when they’ve got the chance to bury a team, take it.
If nothing else, they showed they can keep coming and nearly pulled it off when Duncan Robinson tied it with a 3-pointer, then drew an offensive foul. This after he banked in a 3-pointer earlier in the fourth.
Sometimes you need a break. Sometimes you make your breaks. For a while, it looked like that’s where this was headed when the Pistons made their third-quarter push after a wobbly second quarter.
But then the Cavaliers used a 9-0 run to close the third quarter until Tobias Harris hit a running, leaning foul-line jumper and got fouled. He made the free throw. Then Caris LeVert stole the inbounds pass and Harris scored on a layup.
Harris’ 5-0 run salvaged the Pistons’ late-quarter giveaway after all that good work to erase the 17-point lead. Twice, the Pistons had the ball leading by two and couldn’t push it further.
Cunningham turned it over twice in that stretch, including once when he tried to inbound the ball under the Cavaliers basket and hit the back of the backboard.
He wasn’t the only one who struggled.
Jenkins had his worst game since early in the first round. He let Dennis Schroder get the best of him as both of them jawed from the first quarter on. Jenkins and Jaylon Tyson also got into it and had to be separated. Jenkins’ first stint lasted 1:35 before J.B. Bickerstaff pulled him.
It wasn’t surprising. This was his first game on the road in the second round of the playoffs, and he’ll learn, as he did in the first round.
Jalen Duren, meanwhile, continues to have issues around the rim against Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Their length seems to discombobulate Duren. He’ll make a move, spin, and appear to not know where he is in relation to the basket.
Allen outplayed him. Mobley outplayed him. If not for Paul Reed’s effort in the second half, the Pistons wouldn’t have come back and had a chance at all.
Reed replaced Isaiah Stewart’s minutes, who continues to look a step slow. It gave the Pistons a chance. And in the end, that’s all they can ask for on the road in the playoffs.
In that way, they showed something. They don’t stop. That continues to serve them. And should continue to give them chances.
They just have to take advantage. That starts with Cunningham.
Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons fumbled an opportunity in Game 3
Reporting by Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
