The Detroit Pistons split their season series with the Magic at 2-2, so J.B. Bickerstaff isn’t hitting the panic button just yet
On Saturday afternoon, the Detroit Pistons looked as if they were on the verge of reclaiming a large batch of momentum in their first round series against the Orlando Magic. Tied at one win apiece, the Pistons held a slim 105-104 lead late in the fourth quarter yesterday, but that’s where the game fell apart for Detroit.
With less than three minutes remaining, the Magic went on a (clearly) unanswered 9-0 run to end the game and cap off an eight-point victory on their home court to take a 2-1 edge over the Pistons. Cade Cunningham had another 27-point, 11-assist outing for Detroit, but the Magic made crucial plays at the most pivotal point in the playoff matchup.
“It’s one game at a time, and that’s what playoff series are,” Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after the game. “We come down here, we win on Monday and we take home court advantage back. Today’s game, we’ll learn from it, but it’s over with. It gives us more opportunity to study, more film to watch, more time to prepare to get ready for Monday, but you can’t hang on to it. Our guys have been consistent all year that we’ve been able to move on to the next, so I trust our guys that we’ll focus on it, we’ll learn from it, we’ll study it, we’ll get better at it, then Monday we’ll be ready to go.”
From a defensive standpoint, the Pistons defended the rim well, especially in the first half with six blocks through the first 18 minutes of action on Saturday. Ausar Thompson finished the contest with five blocks and two steals for a stellar seven-stock effort, but Detroit allowed Desmond Bane to have his best shooting performance of the series so far with seven triples to help seal Orlando’s victory.
“I think we gave him opportunities and that’s where we have to do a better job,” Bickerstaff said. “I thought we did a better job in the first couple games of making it more difficult and not giving him just the easy catch-and-shoots. Tonight, I feel like he got more of those and was able to find a rhythm.”
During the regular season, Bane went off for 37 points back in November, so the Pistons have already been briefed on the sharp-shooter’s danger from the perimeter. But over the weekend, Detroit was unable to piece together scoring possessions consistently enough to sway the outcome in their favor. In particular, Cunningham finished the night with nine turnovers, which speaks to the defensive pressure applied by Orlando all night long.
So, how can the Pistons make sure they issue heightened ball control throughout the rest of the series?
“Together, our spacing has to get better so that we can have better windows to make those plays, but again, the careless ones, the silly ones we can do a better job of taking away,” Bickerstaff said.
For Detroit, that comes down to cohesive offensive play starting from the top with Cunningham bearing the most responsibility, but each player on the court has to do their job in order to ensure clean possessions.
“Just understanding how important possessions are and guys putting the effort to go out and do it,” Bickerstaff said. “I thought for parts of the game we did some good things, but down the stretch they made some tough shots that made it hard for us to finish it out.”
The Pistons have one more day to rest up and regroup before taking on the Magic for game four in Orlando with a tip-off slated for 8 pm on Monday, April 27.
For more information on the latest Detroit Pistons team or player news, follow @EricJRutter on X for continued basketball coverage. Also be sure to look up Roundtable - Michigan Men Media on Facebook for continued social media coverage of all the sporting teams in the Mitten.