It got ugly in a hurry and was over quicker than that. And in the end, it wasn’t just humbling but humiliating, and when the only fans left in the building wore maroon and gold and were standing and chanting and hollering and smiling?
Not to mention laughing and taunting?
Yeah, this will sting. This will linger. And it should. From now until the first jump ball next October on opening night.
No one who wears red and blue will forget this … better forget this … can’t forget this. Another state taking over Little Caesars Arena?
But then, can you blame them? Hey, win on the road in a Game 7 and away fans are gonna make noise.
Win on the road by 31?
Well, the home team’s arena will turn into the worst kind of party, as Little Caesars Arena did here Sunday, May 17, when a few thousand Ohioans, bused in by Detroiter – and Cleveland Cavaliers owner – Dan Gilbert, took over the joint as the Pistons went down, 125-94.
The sound and sight of a season’s end is never easy. Yet this was something different. This was a sound – and scene – these young Detroit Pistons won’t forget. Not anytime soon.
Not ever.
Not after they unfurled their worst effort of the postseason from the tip.
Let’s see: Cleveland won all four quarters. The Cavs won the battle in the paint. They won at the free throw line. They won in all the ways that are measured and in all the ways that aren’t.
And no, the end of the Pistons’ season didn’t come because of a lack of shooting. Or a lack of ballhandling. Or a lack of playmaking.
No, it wasn’t because of poor spacing, poor play design, or poor screen setting. Well, maybe a little of it was the screen setting, since that involves focus and intent … and effort, of which there was almost none from the Pistons here Sunday night.
Shocking? That isn’t strong enough. Stunning? Absolutely.
Demoralizing? Surprising? Embarrassing?
Yes, yes and yes.
Teams are going to have nights when they don’t make shots, or get to the free throw line, or turn the ball over. They’re going to have nights when they can’t find their flow, or their rhythm, or even a little luck.
This is basketball. It happens.
But there can’t be nights when the competitive spirit isn’t there, when the intensity isn’t there, when the focus is there. Not this time of the year, not in the second round of the playoffs − a place the Pistons hadn’t been in 18 years.
Not in Game 7, against a team that had questioned Detroit’s worthiness back in March, when a player anonymously told a reporter the Pistons weren’t in their class. They dismissed Detroit back then. Not even that brought any life here Sunday night.
It was odd. No, it was eerie … in an otherworldly kind of way. As in: Where was the team we’d seen for most of this season?
Where was the force? The energy? The juice?
Back in Cleveland? Where the Pistons played their best game of the playoffs in Game 6? That’d explain it, sort of.
So does this:
They weren’t ready. Not at all. Not even close. That’s a shame. An indictment, too. Yeah, the Pistons are young, and in the NBA promising young teams have to go through things.
But this? In Game 7? At home?
It’s one thing to lose to a team with a bit more talent. It’s another to step on the court and fail to compete, fail to be anything close to who you’ve been all season.
The Pistons spent the last six months − and most of these playoffs − playing the kind of defense that a team could brag about, and then didn’t play defense in the biggest game of the season.
But then it’s hard to defend the other team when no one is trying. Not really. Not to the level we’ve seen from these Pistons.
They fell down immediately, trailed by 17 at the half, and when they returned for the third quarter, they were somehow even more flat.
Cade Cunningham, who didn’t have it and couldn’t find his shot for the first time in a month, missed a 3-pointer – he was 0-for-7 from deep. On the next possession, he turned it over driving the lane, a casual turnover, and an issue he’ll need to work on this offseason.
Meanwhile, Cleveland kept scoring, pushing the lead to 23, then to 25, then eventually to 35. They had an easy path to the rim all night, led by Jarrett Allen, who scored six points early in the first.
Allen is a barometer for Cleveland, and his early play suggested it was his night. And Sam Merrill’s night – he hit five 3s and finished with 23.
Sam Merrill?
Yeah, Sam Merrill. And eventually Donovan Mitchell, and Evan Mobley and … well, what’s the point? They came. The Pistons didn’t.
Not even a little. And that’s most shocking of all.
Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pistons didn’t show up for Game 7, and that’s what stings the most
Reporting by Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
