Pistons’ 3-point shot abandons them when they need it most
In yet another game that went down to the final seconds, one team had Jalen Brunson and the other didn’t. The team with Jalen Brunson won the game and is advancing to the second round of the playoffs. The Detroit Pistons fell to the New York Knicks 116-113 to end their season. The Knicks used a decisive 11-1 run in the final 2:35 to eliminate the Pistons.
Detroit had a chance to send the game into overtime, and Malik Beasley, who hit six threes in the first half, had a wide open look, but he fumbled the pass out of bounds.
The game was emblematic of the Pistons season. They went down 15 points early, but fought back, as they always do, to take a 60-59 lead into halftime. They then gave up a big run in the third quarter, but fought back again to lead by as many as seven in the fourth.
But then it was time for one of the NBA’s most clutch players to do his thing. Brunson scored 30 in the first half, but was completely shut down in the second half. Until he wasn’t.
He got things going by hitting an off-ballance bank shot falling down that also drew a Tim Hardaway foul. JB Bickerstaff challenged the call and lost. That cut Detroit’s lead to 112-108.
After an empty Detroit possession, Brunson then hit a ridiculous off-ballance layup when it looked multiple times like he was going to fall over or travel. Instead, he made the shot. That just seems to be what Brunson does.
The Pistons were able to retake the lead on two Jalen Duren free throws, but Brunson drew so much defensive attention on his next shot that Mikal Bridges was able to tip-in the miss to tie it up.
Cade Cunningham missed a good look on a driving layup on the next possession and New York called timeout.
With the game tied with 21 seconds remaining, they put the ball in Brunson’s hands, and Detroit tasked Ausar Thompson with keeping the score tied. Brunson shook off Thompson, created a wide-open look for himself, and swished the game-winning shot.
It was a tough way for the Pistons’ season to end, but end it did.
The real story of the game, aside from Brunson’s heroics, was Detroit’s absolute inability to hit from deep save for a hot streak in the first half from Beasley. Non-Beasley Pistons were 3-of-21 from deep. You can’t win a basketball game when you shoot that poorly from the perimeter.
Cunningham, who finished with 23 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, was 0-of-8 from three. Tim Hardaway Jr. was 1-of-6. Dennis Schroder was 1-of-4.
Jalen Duren was the best player on the court for the Pistons tonight, scoring 21 points, hitting 9-of-10 free throws to go with six rebounds and three assists. He played solid defense when the Pistons needed it, tipped out some rebounds to keep New York off the offensive glass, and took advantage of his offensive opportunities.
It wasn’t enough for Detroit, though. The Pistons put up a hell of a fight, but they couldn’t find the scoring punch when they needed it most.
The Knicks now move on to face the Boston Celtics . The Pistons will now have an offseason to think about all of the things that went well this season, and all the things they need to work on.
For a team that won 14 games a year ago, being near .500 would have been good enough. Instead, they tripled their win total and became the sixth seed. Making the playoff games competitive would have been good enough. Instead, they played nearly every game down to the wire and were a few bounces (and foul calls) away from taking the series outright.
They proved that this team is no fluke. They will be back next year. And they will be even better.