The Detroit Pistons are off to an early deficit in their first round series with the Orlando Magic
When the Detroit Pistons opened their playoff journey at home last night, the table looked set for the franchise to exercise a lingering postseason demon. Even though the franchise had lost an NBA-record 10 straight games at home, surely the tides would turn as the one seed from Detroit played host to an Orlando Magic squad that had to fight through the play-in round to even make it this far.
In fact, the Pistons won 60 games in the regular season for just the third time in franchise history, but none of that mattered last night when the three-man attack of Jalen Suggs, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner was enough for the Magic to seal a 112-101 victory on Sunday night.
“Coming out giving up a 35-point quarter, that’s not typical for us,” Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after the game. “It felt like we were just chasing them all night. We made some runs to get ourselves back in the ball game. Defensively, I didn’t think we were our best. Critical errors, mistakes that they made us pay for. Getting back used to playing at NBA speed I think got us a little bit tonight.”
As Bickerstaff alluded to, the Pistons were coming off a week-long absence from playing meaningful basketball, but Detroit vaguely resembled the squad that was so dominant throughout the 82-game regular season. The Magic outrebounded the Pistons and were much more dangerous in the paint, which has been a zone that All-Star Jalen Duren dominated all year long.
As for the big man, Duren struggled to seal off his man in the post, which made for awkward entry pass angles, and Detroit was never able to establish his presence on the offensive end. Duren put up just four shots against Orlando for a total of eight points, which pales in comparison to his season-long average of nearly 20 a night.
“They packed the paint in,” Bickerstaff said. “They’re going to put a bunch of bodies in the paint to try to make it difficult on him, our pick and roll game, making sure we’re executing properly there to create space for him. So, it was a good opportunity for us to see and we’ll go prepare for the next one.”
Once the Magic effectively neutralized Duren in game one, Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham took it upon himself to give Detroit a chance as the floor general sparked a late comeback that just fell short despite his 39-point effort.
“He is doing what he has to do,” Bickerstaff said of Cunningham. “We were struggling to score, so I like the way that he is being aggressive, but again, our offense has to be part of that fluidity that we’ve talked about. There’s got to be more movement. We’ve got to fight through a little bit of the physicality more and not just settle for the first thing. But at moments, he’s going to take over the games like he did tonight.”
The Pistons did receive a 17-point contribution from Tobias Harris, but the veteran’s performance was not enough to serve as the secondary scoring threat that Detroit needed in game one. Harris and Cunningham were the only Pistons starters to score in double figures, though, so Detroit’s supporting cast fell off a cliff last night from a production standpoint.
“There were times in the game where we got stagnant, and I feel like that happened to us because we got down early and it felt like there was so much weight and so much pressure on each possession that we got to a point where we were just trying to do it all, hit a home run every time,” Bickerstaff said. “So again, I thought there were moments where we found what we need to do. We just need to replicate that more often.”
The Pistons have two days to regroup before they attempt to bring the series back to level footing on Wednesday, April 22 at 7 pm.
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