Playoff drama bigger than Pistons---but that can change in the near future
Dropping 3 of 4 to the Knicks has been a painful lesson in what it takes to close out playoff games.
It’s long been my belief that NFL games are more lost than they are won.
Turnovers, mental mistakes and poor execution all conspire to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. So many games are separated on the scoreboard by one possession—and the team that makes even just one more mistake than their opponents, often loses.
The NBA, I see differently.
NBA games are won—not lost. As a rule.
And the games are won by which team makes the biggest shots. And those big shots are usually made by the biggest stars.
The Pistons trail the Knicks, 3-1 in their first round playoff series because the Knicks are making big shots. And the big shots are being made by their two big guns: Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson.
The great teams in the league have two clearly identified, consistent scorers/playmakers—sometimes three.
The Pistons have Batman and “Robin by Committee.”
That is good enough to win 44 games in the regular season but it’s clearly not good enough to win in the playoffs. But that’s OK.
Did you really think the Pistons were going to go from 14 wins to advancing to the second round in one year?
What am I thinking? Of course you did.
Such is the mindset of the fans.
Success is like an addictive drug. Get a little bit and you crave more—no matter how unreasonable expectations become.
A few weeks ago Pistons fans were giddy about their rags-to-riches team making the playoffs—the real playoffs, not that play-in nonsense.
But after stealing Game 2 in New York last week, the fans got greedy. They wanted more.
That’s understandable.
But it was unlikely to happen, when the Pistons are showing up with a bona fide star in Cade Cunningham and a bunch of wannabes who in the regular season took turns playing Cade’s trusty sidekick.
The playoffs are a different animal.
The Bad Boys Pistons of 1989-90 didn’t ascend overnight. Much like this season’s version, those Pistons in the middle of the 1980s were a team capable of winning 45-46 games in the regular season, but didn’t have enough juice to compete with the elite teams in the league in the playoffs.
But then the franchise added Joe Dumars, Adrian Dantley, Rick Mahorn, John Salley and Dennis Rodman. Each filled a particular need. And the core of Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer and—to an extent—Vinnie Johnson, had some real help.
Once the above players were added to the mix, the Pistons were indeed elite.
On Sunday, with the clock ticking down at the end of Game 4, Cunningham got the shot he wanted. Hell, he got the shot every Pistons fan from Hamtramck to Coldwater wanted: a relatively open jumper from the top of the key. It was a shot that Cade could maybe drain in his sleep. Had it gone down, the Pistons would have had a 95-94 lead with about 3-5 seconds remaining. Not a guaranteed victory, but still.
Notice the operative words: “had it gone down”; “would have had.”
And that’s what is currently separating Cade from the legit superstars in the league.
Hard to imagine Brunson missing that shot. Or Towns, whose range apparently is half court consistently.
The shot was off, and it wasn’t all that close. It clanged off the rim and after an ensuing scramble, the basketball ended up in the hands of Tim Hardaway Jr. in the corner.
You know what happened next.
But I’m not here to bellyache over that non-call.
The Pistons are still a work in progress. I put them in that category of, say, the 1985-86 Pistons who won 46 games and went down in the first round against Atlanta—one year after making it to the second round and giving the Celtics a battle before bowing in six games.
Their ascent took a detour after that first round loss to the Hawks, but the summer of 1986 was an offseason to behold.
Jack McCloskey drafted Salley and Rodman. He traded Kelly Tripucka to Utah for Adrian Dantley. Dumars had his rookie year under his belt. Isiah was going into his prime.
It was a perfect storm, and the Pistons made the ECF in 1987 and the Finals from 1988-90, winning the last two of those.
They were elite.
Playoff heartbreaks? Sure, they had them. Who can forget The Steal in Boston Garden at the end of Game 5 in 1987?
Or the phantom foul at the end of Game 6 in the 1988 Finals?
Thursday and Sunday, the Knicks escaped with two wins in Detroit to throttle this series but it wasn’t easy for them. The whole series hasn’t been easy for them. The Pistons have held 4th quarter leads in each game.
But the Knicks have managed to win 3 of 4 because of their two stars. The Pistons are still looking for their second.
That second star could be Jaden Ivey, whose absence since January 1 because of injury has made this season not only a “Cinderella” story but also a “What might have been” one.
The other players surrounding Cunningham are nice vets who know how to play the game. Without them, the Pistons don’t triple their win total from ‘24 to ‘25. The youth movement played a big role, too—with their “chip on their shoulder” attitude and energy. It was a collective effort.
But that’s not enough to be considered elite.
The NBA doesn’t really have any wiggle room in this regard.
This isn’t 2004, when the Pistons relied on teamwork, smothering defense and cohesiveness to grab a title.
Today’s NBA requires star power. There’s not going to be a “Little engine that could” story in the Finals.
This playoff series with the Knicks had to happen. The Pistons have to go through this. They have to know what it takes to finish playoff games—which is a whole lot different than closing out a game in January in Memphis or Portland.
The Pistons on Sunday couldn’t hit threes in the first half, which was 24 minutes of offensive hell. They had trouble on the defensive glass. And they never really stopped turning the ball over.
Yet they led 79-68 in the fourth quarter.
In the third quarter, Brunson went down with a “mysterious” lower leg injury. I say mysterious because it sure didn’t look like it bothered him when he returned.
After falling behind by 11 in the fourth, the Knicks simply let Towns and Brunson take over. Meanwhile, the Pistons struggled to get consistent scoring from anyone other than #2, which has been the story of the series so far.
The Knicks won 51 games this season and they didn’t do it by fluke.
This series had to happen because the only way to learn about the playoffs is through on-the-job training. Even having vets on the team like Tobias Harris, Dennis Schroder and Tim Hardaway Jr., who’ve played in a load of playoff games between them, can only do so much by they telling the kids what playoff basketball is like.
The late, great Detroit News sports columnist Jerry Green recounted a story about Isiah in his book “The Detroit Pistons: Capturing a Remarkable Era” ( I have a signed copy).
It happened at the 1986 NBA Finals, with the Pistons long prior eliminated from the playoffs. Isiah was courtside, taking it all in—gazing at the players from the Rockets and the Celtics as they warmed up. Jerry was next to him.
“We’re going to be here next year,” Isiah said, almost as if to himself, but loud enough for Jerry to hear.
Oh?
“Yeah. We’re going to be here next year.”
Isiah was close; the Pistons lost in the 1987 ECF to the Celtics in a hard fought, angry seven-game series.
Cade Cunningham is a baby in this whole NBA playoffs thing. On Sunday he started slow, had an amazing third quarter but then got bitten by the turnover bug in the fourth. He missed the go-ahead shot in the waning seconds.
It was a bitter pill to swallow but a pill that needed to be swallowed, nonetheless.
He needs help.
As soon as the final buzzer sounds in this series, Pistons POBO Trajan Langdon will be in the cross hairs. Because he’s the man whose charge it is to get Cade that help.
These NBA playoffs are unforgiving. Cade and company are finding that out in real time.
Right on the money, Greg!
Great perspective, eloquent piece of writing, crystal clear analysis. Don't know how you recall all the little details of plays and results I've long since forgotten. Well played yet again, kudos, and thanks!