Cleveland — The Pistons were understandably in a foul mood after this one.
But they’d be fooling themselves if they blamed a series-tying Game 4 loss to the Cavaliers on the ridiculous foul disparity. Because they were beaten off the line before they were beaten to it Monday night, and if they can’t find a remedy for that soon, they’ll be at the end of the line before they know it.
That’s the message they need to hear internally after a 112-103 loss to the Cavs at Rocket Arena, even if there was another that their coach knew he needed to deliver publicly once the final horn sounded. And you knew J.B. Bickerstaff would, too, after watching Cleveland parade to the free-throw line all night while the Pistons went interminable stretches without getting a call of their own.
Cleveland took 41 of their 78 shots from behind the three-point line Monday, yet still was awarded 34 free-throw attempts in the game. The Pistons, meanwhile, finished with just 12 free throws despite 60 of their 83 shot attempts being two-point field goals. The Cavaliers weren’t called for a single foul in the first quarter of this game, And when it was all over, the Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell had made more free throws himself (13) than the Pistons had taken as a team.
“It’s unacceptable, it is,” said Bickerstaff, whose team was called for 20 more fouls than the Cavs (52-32) in Games 3 and 4. “We didn’t do enough, obviously, to help ourselves, and I’ll start there. But ever since we came to Cleveland, the whistle has changed. You know, there’s no way that one guy on their team shoots more free throws than our team. We’re not a ‘settle’ team. We’re not a jump-shooting team. We drive the ball, attack the paint. So what was done out there tonight, it’s frustrating.”
Not nearly as frustrating, though, as watching two of the Pistons’ starters essentially play themselves off the floor Monday. Ausar Thompson came unraveled in the first half — he’d finish the night a minus-27 in 18 minutes — while Jalen Duren was benched for most of the third quarter.
Duren ended his night with twice as many turnovers (four) as he had rebounds (two), and while a couple of the five fouls he picked up Monday were weak calls, he knew better than to use that as an excuse for his continuing struggles in these playoffs. Paul Reed once again came off the bench and provided a spark that Duren simply can’t find right now.
“You can’t blame on the refs,” said Duren, who got a chance to play again the fourth quarter as Bickerstaff tried to give him another emotional boost. “I mean, we shot ourselves in the foot.”
And that started almost immediately Monday. On Detroit’s second possession of the game, Duren took a pass as he was cutting toward the basket and promptly dribbled it off his foot out of bounds. It’s not a stretch to say things went downhill from there, either.
The Pistons trailed by double digits early, then rallied to take a halftime lead thanks in large part to the play of Caris LeVert, who came off the bench to replace Thompson and scored 17 points in 16 minutes.
But that was nothing compared to the flurry that would bury Detroit after the break, as Mitchell ignited a 22-0 run for Cleveland to start the third quarter. The Cavs’ All-Star guard would go on to score 38 of his 43 points in the second half — one point shy of an NBA record — as the Pistons’ defense looked like scrambled eggs. They were over-helping on the perimeter, watching the ball rather than making the proper rotations, and the way Bickerstaff saw it, “we were trying to do two things at once,” which inevitably led to doing the thing they couldn’t afford to against this team.
They gave them life here on their home court, and allowed Cleveland to become “Believeland” again, thanks to some brutal turnovers down the stretch in Game 3 and way too much breathing room in Game 4. And now they’ll need to take a deep breath and regroup quickly, because a best-of-seven series just became a best-of-three.
The Pistons still have home-court advantage, beginning with Wednesday’s Game 5 in Detroit. But after spending the last few days talking about trying to “put some doubt” in the Pistons’ minds, Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson didn’t have to treat it like a hypothetical Monday night. Not after watching his team blitz the East’s No. 1 seed with a third-quarter run that created what he described as an “insane” environment at Rocket Arena, which is now guaranteed another game Friday night.
“It’s just a different story at 2-2,” Atkinson said. “I know Game 5’s gonna be tough, and it’s in their place. But I think we made a stand winning these two games. So that gives you confidence, right?”
And, yes, it generates some doubt on the other side, because these aren’t just nagging questions they’re taking home with them now. They’re major concerns.
Can Duren rediscover his own confidence after these last two efforts in Cleveland? Can Thompson shake off what was easily the worst game he played all season?
“Definitely, we’re still learning.” Bickerstaff said. “And that’s the tough part about it. But some of the hardest lessons that you learn are the most frustrating ones.”
Rarely this season have we seen Cade Cunningham look as frustrated as he was at times in Monday’s loss.
He finished with 19 points, six assists and five turnovers Monday — his first career playoff game being held under 20 points. But also finished with just three free-throw attempts despite getting up 16 shots and playing nearly 40 minutes.
“Yeah, I mean, we played two different games tonight,” Cunningham said. “But it is what it is. I realized early on it was gonna be one of those type of nights. I got hit on my arm early, didn’t get a whistle, and everybody didn’t want to look at me after that. I kind of knew what it was.”
Likewise, we all know what that was from Bickerstaff after the game. He’d heard Atkinson — and Mitchell, for that matter — lobbying for more fouls as this series shifted from Detroit to Cleveland. And he knew complaints that the Pistons’ heavy-handed defense and physical style of play were going unpunished might get a response. So this was simply his defense argument Monday night.
“You look at the foul count, you look at the disparity, and that’s hard to overcome,” Bickerstaff said, shaking his head. “And you wonder the reason why. It’s interesting: Since Kenny made his comments publicly about us, the whistle has changed in this series.”
Fair or foul, the series has now changed, too, though. And as the Pistons headed home, they better not be waiting for the whistle to save them.
john.niyo@detroitnews.com
@JohnNiyo
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Niyo: Pistons can blame their own foul play for series tie
Reporting by John Niyo, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
