The Detroit Pistons won their fourth consecutive elimination game during this playoff run with a double-digit victory over the Cleveland Cavs, 115-94
While fighting for their playoff lives in game six, the Detroit Pistons proved that they’re capable of adapting to adversity when their first or second plans fail to turn out as intended. As that pertains to their second round matchup with the Cleveland Cavs, it was the Pistons who made a couple crucial adjustments that propelled the top seed in the East to a pivotal 115-94 win on Friday night.
For most of the series, All-Star center Jalen Duren has struggled to find where and how to be effective for Detroit. Unlike his nightly 20 and 10 production from the regular season, Duren has struggled to find similar levels of success in the playoffs, but the big man looked more like his 82-game self with 15 points and 11 rebounds in the double-digit win.
Although Duren finally bounced back with a strong response, Paul Reed continued to push the envelope of instant impact with 17 points and six rebounds in just 16 minutes. B-Ball Paul came off the bench tonight when many suggested that he’d earn the right to enter the starting lineup for the Pistons, but Detroit was able to rotate the two centers effectively all game long.
As for the rest of the Detroit squad, both Cade Cunningham and Duncan Robinson were dialed in from long-range. With 21 points and eight assists to his credit, Cunningham knocked down big triple after big triple against the Cavs. By the time the final buzzer sounded, Cunningham had deposited five long bombs into the net. Robinson, on the other hand, came off the bench while battling lower back soreness, but the usual-starter contributed four triples of his own for 14 points in the game. As a team, the Pistons punished Cleveland from beyond the arc and sank 16 threes to 12 for the Cavs.
“We’re just playing our brand of basketball, coming out and competing and trying to execute our system to the best of our ability,” Cunningham said after the win.
On the other side of the ball, Ausar Thompson continued to create example after example as to why he’s considered the premier lockdown perimeter defender in the association. Four steals and one block, which was a thunderous two-handed rejection in transition, before picking up his sixth foul with just under four minutes remaining in the game. Thompson was a defensive menace all game long, and he nearly finished with a double-double given his 10-point, nine-rebound performance.
As for the Cavs, Thompson was an impactful point-of-attack defender who helped limit both Donovan Mitchell and James Harden to 18 and 23 points respectively. Mitchell posted a subpar 6-for-20 shooting performance from the field, and Harden finished below 50% in that realm as well. Evan Mobley tied Harden with 18 points, but nobody else on Cleveland’s squad ended up with more than 13 points as Detroit ran away with the game towards the end.
Now that the Pistons have tied the Eastern Conference Semifinals at 3-3, the second round series is headed back to the Motor City for game seven in Detroit with a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals on the line.
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