Detroit goes to New York facing elimination
The Detroit Pistons did everything they could to tie the series at 2-2 except for execute when it mattered most. The star duo of Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns had no such issue. In the fourth quarter the pair outscored the entire Pistons team 23-22, en route to Detroit falling 94-93 and facing an elimination game on the road.
Towns hit the game-winning shot, a 27-foot bomb from deep to give the Knicks the one-point lead. The Pistons had the ball with 11 seconds remaining, but Cade Cunningham missed a 14-foot baseline jumper and the rebound careened into the waiting arms of Tim Hardaway Jr. in the corner. He hoisted in the final moment and appeared to receive contact on the shot from a leaping Josh Hart, but the refs didn’t call a foul and the Pistons lost the game.
The Pistons struggled early in the game as the Knicks were doing everything the Pistons wanted to do but better (better being a relative term in a hard-fought slugfest that didn’t feature much offense). The Knicks were getting to loose balls, they were winning every 50-50 chance, and they were executing at a high level. They were playing with the focus and desperation early the Pistons needed.
Detroit was able to ramp up the defense in the second quarter and used its first run of the game to cut a 14-point deficit to seven at the half. The run was powered by Tobias Harris, who was again limited by foul trouble, but made a couple key stretches count.
The Pistons then dominated the third quarter, continuing its stifling defense and starting to execute its offense when it had a chance to move in transition. Jalen Brunson attempted a last second shot at the buzzer but fell to the ground and didn’t get a call, appearing to hurt his foot.
All the momentum had swung Detroit’s way. Cade Cunningham found his groove, and Malik Beasley started hitting shots. Towns had a cold stretch on both ends as he was more focused on avoiding his fifth foul than in executing. But when Brusnon came back in, looking no worse for wear, the game completely flipped.
Brunson scored 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting. He was able to surgically slice through Detroit’s defense for a number of layups at the rim, and when he wasn’t hitting the layups, he was hitting tough fallaways off the glass.
Towns hit two big threes, including the one that put the Knicks ahead for good. The Knicks can sit comfortably knowing their two biggest players earned their combined $75 million salary tonight. Their big players hit the biggest shots when it counted.
The Pistons will look to regroup and keep this series going as long as possible. They deserve credit for the fight they are giving to New York, but everyone must be honest with themselves about the number of self-inflicted wounds Detroit is amassing in each of their losses.
You can’t win many games with 17 turnovers. Comebacks are great, but it is even better if you do not find yourself trailing by as many as 16 points in the second quarter. The Pistons are struggling to find time for its best defender, Ausar Thompson, because his offense is so unreliable. He is also making plenty of young-player mistakes.
Jalen Duren is a markedly improved defender than his first two years, but he’s also still a bad defender, and he struggles to contest effectively or seal off the paint. This team was sorely missing Isaiah Stewart tonight. Cunningham simply can’t have seven turnovers in a game in which he expects to lead his team to victory.
These close losses could be called learning experiences, but I know that the Pistons want something more than to simply learn how to win. They want to win this series. They put themselves in a position to take it. But they let it slip away at the end. Again.
We can talk about fouls and no-calls all we want, but the Pistons had a double-digit fourth-quarter lead and let the game slip away.
These playoffs are showing us exactly what kind of team and future this Pistons have, much of it great. But there are flaws, and the Pistons are running out of time to eliminate their errors and keep this magical season going.