CLEVELAND – Let’s see, they blew a nine-point lead with 2½ minutes left in the game two days ago back in Detroit, a crushing blow to a young team on the verge of a conference finals visit.
Or so we thought, right?
And what do we know, anyway? We should know by now, though, who these Detroit Pistons are and what they can do.
They may yet lose this second-round series to the Cleveland Cavaliers. But it didn’t happen here at Rocket Arena in Game 6, after the Cavaliers ripped their hearts out some 48 hours ago. It didn’t happen despite Cleveland’s momentum, experience, and a three-game winning streak.
And if it didn’t happen with all that? What will happen now?
All the Pistons did here Friday, May 15, was come in and blow Cleveland out. Yeah, that’s right, they ran the Cavaliers off their own floor and played their most complete and poised game of the postseason, beating them 115-94 and forcing a Game 7 back at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday.
If you saw that coming, good for you. Then again, coach J.B. Bickerstaff knew a version of this was possible, and said so before the game. Oh, he didn’t use those words. But he didn’t need to.
He said this instead, when asked about his starting lineup and if he’d keep Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren in it:
“I know people can judge however they want to judge, but you’re looking at this big picture and long term, right? Those guys are going to be a huge part of what we do for a long time. And what does it say about us if in their difficult times, we choose to give up on them? That’s not building the environment that we want to build. That’s not giving people your trust and security in them.”
Prophetic?
Not necessarily. But absolutely astute, for this was the Jalen Duren game.
Well, and the Daniss Jenkins game, and the Caris LeVert game, and the Duncan Robinson game, and the Paul Reed game, and the Marcus Sasser game, and, yes, the Ausar Thompson game, who played through foul trouble, frustration, temporary losses of poise.
It was everyone’s game, in other words. Like Bickerstaff said before the game and has said all season: The Pistons believe in their guys. They aren’t going to abandon their guys.
They may sit their guys, but they’ll keep running them back out.
Duren, for one, is grateful. He finally looked like the player he’d been all season, outplaying Cleveland’s bigs with force and conviction. He muscled his way to 11 rebounds and 15 points. And he was present from the start.
They all were, although they lost their cool and focus a few times − especially to close the half, when Cleveland cut the 10-point lead to 54-51.
The Pistons regained their focus during the break, opening the third quarter, which had been their bugaboo for this series, with a 3-pointer from Cade Cunningham at the end of the shot clock.
Tobias Harris followed with a runout and layup, then two free throws. Jenkins hit a corner 3-pointer and, much later, hit a 3 to ice the game, the shot he couldn’t hit in Game 5 at home.
He added a tough, lefty finish over Jarrett Allen. That pushed the lead to 13, and whatever they’d lost to close the half they’d found again.
When they play with it, they can compete with anyone and respond to every run, even when those runs are propped up by their generous gifts. That happened a couple times in the second half, but then someone made something happen.
Reed made a reverse layup, for example, that sat on the back of the rim forever before finally rolling around and dropping. He was fouled and made the free throw.
Robinson made a 3-pointer. Reed made more free throws. Robinson hit another deep one. Then found a cutting Reed for a layup.
They closed the third as forcefully as they opened it and led 84-70 going into the fourth. Up and down the roster − pick a name − someone made a play.
Have we mentioned Sasser?
Yes? Well, let’s mention him again.
All he did was step onto the floor in an elimination game in the second round and carve his way to the basket in the second quarter for a difficult finish. He hit a floater to close the third quarter, beating the buzzer by a fraction.
He nailed a step-back 3-pointer.
Wait … what?
Bickerstaff talked before the game about all the times the depth of his team made a difference this season. How someone missed time and someone else stepped in.
Cliche? Who cares if it’s true, and it is, and has been and why they’ve now got another Game 7 when it looked for all the world like the season was finished – again.
Well, not yet.
Not after this performance. Not after this statement.
Not after their most maligned player – rightly so – rediscovered himself.
Duren looked like … Duren again. Finally.
He rebounded. He was active defensively. He attacked the rim with purpose and intent and took his time when he needed to. He even pushed the ball in transition after a rebound, something he did in the regular season to help the pace but had rarely done this postseason.
If there were a sign of his confidence, there it was. He is skilled like that. Capable like that. He’s also 22.
Yes, there are 22 year olds who don’t stumble as he has stumbled this postseason. But they are rare. Most need time to figure things out, to learn, to stub their toe and stub it again and take in all the angry noise and eventually filter it out.
In the end, it’s always only you. That’s a tough lesson for anyone, and especially for those just starting out.
The Pistons are still starting out, too. They are learning, too.
After booting the game two days earlier, they made sure there was no chance of that happening again. This is who the Pistons are. This is who they’ve been all season.
We’ll see them again Sunday at home, one win from hosting a rematch with the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals.
Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pistons rediscovered their identity to keep their season alive
Reporting by Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
