The Detroit Pistons are set to square off with a familiar foe in the second round of the postseason
By virtue of three consecutive victories in elimination games, the Detroit Pistons completed a 3-1 comeback over the Orlando Magic with a 116-94 win on Sunday afternoon to continue their postseason journey in the second round. In the 22-point win, Cade Cunningham exploded for 32 points with his sharp-shooting wingman for the night, Tobias Harris, adding 30 points of his own.
Hours after the Pistons punched their ticket to the next stage of the playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors squared off in a game seven matchup of their own to determine who Detroit would face on Tuesday. Though both teams traded blows early on, the Cavs pulled away in the second half against a Raptors squad that was admittedly depleted without Brandon Ingram in the lineup. Cleveland ultimately secured their spot in the second round with a 114-102 win over the Raptors, so the Pistons have one more day to prepare for that matchup.
During the regular season, the Pistons and the Cavs split their season series with two wins apiece, so the Central Division foes are more than familiar with each other. While the Pistons finished with 60 wins before reaching the playoffs, Cleveland logged 52 victories in their own right, so both squads were among the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference from start to finish. Most recently, the Cavs logged a 113-109 win over the Pistons on Tuesday, March 3, but Detroit had the upper hand in their battle four days prior with a 122-119 overtime victory on Friday, February 27.
But just to reach this point in the playoffs, both the Pistons and Cavs were pushed to the limit with a first round scare, but that adversity will only serve to make Detroit a more confident, well-adapted squad according to head coach J.B. Bickerstaff.
“I think it was great for us,” Bickerstaff said after Sunday's win. “That’s the thing, when you’re going through playoff series and these situations, you have to be battle tested and you have to be able to respond and you have to be able to have the experience of doing that. Doing what we did this series only made us better for the next one. I know a lot of people would have liked for it to just be easier, but I think it was great for our guys to go through what they want through, to understand what it looks like and where they have to be in order to get it done, we understand that now. We take that with us to the second round.”
Now that the Pistons are officially in the second round, Detroit has surpassed the level that their team from a year ago had set. Back then, the Pistons were playoff newcomers after missing the postseason for five consecutive years, but Detroit was ultimately bounced in the first round by the New York Knicks. Despite whatever regular season accomplishments this iteration of the Pistons compiled before the playoffs, Bickerstaff and his players knew that advancing further in the postseason was necessary in order to say the team took a tangible step this year.
“I think we were pushed to the limit and it made us really reflect on how we were playing, what got us to this position and what made us win as many games as we won in the regular season, and it got us back to playing the level of basketball we knew we were capable of,” Pistons point guard Cunningham said.
During game seven last night, Cunningham put up 32 points and 12 assists while going 4-for-6 from three-point range against the Magic with his season and the line, which qualifies as a quintessential superstar performance from the Pistons’ unquestioned leader. Of course, Cunningham will have his hands full with a Cleveland backcourt that contains James Harden and Donovan Mitchell, but Detroit’s floor general will be up for the task, especially considering his recent hot streak over the last week.
Now, Cunningham and his squad will have a day off to prepare for the Cavs before hosting their division rivals at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday, May 5 for a 7 pm tip-off.
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