The Detroit Pistons mounted a late comeback against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday but were unable to complete the job
Playing in a rematch of last week’s overtime contest, the Detroit Pistons traveled to Cleveland for Tuesday night’s matchup against the Cavs, but both the outcome and the parameters of the game turned out to be vastly different this time around.
With James Harden back in the lineup and Keon Ellis available to use in the Cavs’ rotation, the home squad had a more balanced roster to work with, and it paid dividends in the Pistons’ 113-109 loss. But the explanation behind Detroit’s single-digit loss goes further than just a restocked Cleveland depth chart, and Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff shined a spotlight on his team’s spotty defensive effort after the game.
“Frustrated in the effort level, the attention to detail that we played on that end of the floor,” Bickerstaff said. “The times and opportunities where we did do the right thing, we did get stops then we let people outwork us to get offensive rebounds. We can’t afford to not play at maximum effort, and that’s been our superpower all year long. Tonight, I felt like there were times where we were outworked. If we’re outworked, this isn’t going to be the results that we want.”
Typically, the Pistons second-ranked defense has meshed with Detroit’s tenacity on the glass to create a favorable possession advantage throughout the season, but this blueprint was undone by a relentless Cavs’ unit that took Tuesday’s game personally.
“Our mindset has to be, we’re running around with our hair on fire defensively, and that’s what it comes down to for us is we have to be the team that’s not smoothening its way into the game,” Bickerstaff said. “We’ve got to find a way to be the team that comes out swinging and kicking. Third quarter, we ended up winning the first quarter, but defensively there’s so much more for us to be had.”
Throughout the game, All-Star point guard Cade Cunningham battled through double-teams from Dennis Schroder and Jaylon Tyson in what was a remarkably inefficient shooting night (4-for-16) for the Pistons’ floor general. The Cavs used multiple defenders to force Cunningham into tough on-ball decisions, but the fifth-year MVP candidate still facilitated at a high level when the rest of his game was not quite MVP-caliber.
“He had 14 assists, so he did the right thing,” Bickerstaff said. “If they’re going to continue to send that amount of bodies at him, he finds his teammates. That’s his responsibility. They put two on him, he shares the game. Again, I’m baffled by the fact that he drives as much as he does and tonight he shoots two free throws. He’s not a flopper. He’s not a flailer. He’s a downhill attack guy. I’ll go back, take a look at it, but it just surprises me that as much as he drives, that he only shoots two free throws tonight.”
When a poor Cunningham shooting night falls on the same game as an oddly porous Pistons defensive effort, the odds are going to dramatically shift out of Detroit’s favor on most nights, and that’s how the Central Division showdown played out at Rocket Arena.
Moving forward, the Pistons have another tough matchup on the docket with a road game against the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday, March 5 at 8 pm.
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