{"id":1916857,"date":"2026-05-04T10:00:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T07:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1916857"},"modified":"2026-05-04T10:00:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T07:00:51","slug":"pistons-showed-grit-in-series-comeback-did-they-unlock-a-new-level-for-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1916857","title":{"rendered":"Pistons showed grit in series comeback. Did they unlock a new level for the future?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DETROIT \u2014 All season, J.B. Bickerstaff has harped on one thing being paramount to the Detroit Pistons\u2019 long-term success: peaking at the perfect time.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s reiterated it from the Pistons\u2019 13-game win streak in November<\/a> to their four-game losing streak in March. As Bickerstaff subbed out his starters Sunday to a standing ovation from the Little Caesars Arena crowd in a sea of blue and white rally towels, his vision was coming to fruition.<\/p>\n

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Detroit shut the door on the Orlando Magic\u2019s season and, in the process, unlocked the best version of itself in a 114-96 Game 7 win<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The Pistons dug themselves out of a 3-1 hole, and after staving off elimination for three consecutive games, they seem to be peaking. They won their first playoff series since 2008, and enter the second round chiseled by the challenges they conquered.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Magic, credit to them. They pushed us. They really made us take a look in the mirror,\u201d Cade Cunningham said after his 32-point, 12-assist performance Sunday. \u201cI think we got a lot better from this series. I got a lot better. I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot about the team. This series really is going to set us up for our next series, and I think we\u2019ll be a lot better for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cunningham solidified himself as a true superstar by spearheading Detroit\u2019s series comeback. He\u2019s already a two-time All-Star on the verge of being selected to his second All-NBA team, but Cunningham was forced to conjure up a level of play he\u2019d yet to produce in the postseason.<\/p>\n

It was fitting for him to do so against the same franchise the Pistons beat nearly 23 years ago to the day after also battling back from a 3-1 series deficit.<\/p>\n

Cunningham averaged 36.3 points, 6.7 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals on 52\/61\/89 shooting splits in the three elimination games. But as good as he was, he wasn\u2019t the only Detroit player to step up. Tobias Harris had 30 points in the win, the most he\u2019s scored with the Pistons \u2014 including his first stint with the team from 2016-2018.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNobody can say s\u2014 to me about Tobias Harris,\u201d Bickerstaff said of the man he\u2019s called a \u201csafety blanket\u201d since last season. \u201cHe is dependable, reliable, prepared for the moment. He\u2019s a leader. He\u2019s a great teammate. He\u2019s a great human being. He\u2019s a high-level competitor. To show up (Sunday) and do what he did when it was on the line the most, it\u2019s exceptional.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Harris averaged 21.6 points in the series, more than any seven-game stretch during the regular season. He has looked qualified to be the Pistons\u2019 second scoring option during the playoffs thus far. He scored 17 of his 30 in the second quarter to help create some separation for Detroit.<\/p>\n

Amid that 17-point second-quarter burst, Harris scored 11 in a row to close out the first half. The Pistons were in need of a run to generate momentum entering halftime, and Harris delivered. He was as demonstrative as he\u2019s been all season. After an and-1, he walked directly to Detroit\u2019s bench flexing, letting them know he was built for those type of moments.<\/p>\n

Apart from Cunningham and Harris being clear postseason risers, Ausar Thompson\u2019s impact was also invaluable over the Pistons\u2019 last seven games. The 6-foot-7 wing\u2019s 16 steals and 16 blocks combined were more than any player in the first round, and his point-of-attack defense completely stymied Orlando\u2019s starting backcourt. Jalen Suggs averaged 11.1 points, while Desmond Bane mustered 18.1 on 39.1 percent shooting. Thompson was at the heart of the Pistons\u2019 playoff-best 101.9 defensive rating.<\/p>\n

His ability to change games with solid defensive play lent itself to an unshakeable belief in Detroit\u2019s ability to win the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when we were down 3-1 we were confident we were going to win,\u201d Thompson said to reporters as he sat in front of his locker. \u201cWhen we were down 24 (in Game 6), we were confident we were going to win. We\u2019re still confident we\u2019re going to win going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jalen Duren, who never quite rediscovered the offensive production he\u2019d established during the regular season, had his best outing of the series in Game 7, finishing with a 15-point, 15-rebound double-double. Duren spoke postgame on his unwavering belief in both himself and the Pistons\u2019 team as a whole.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn our locker room, we know what we are,\u201d Duren said. \u201cAs a team, as a group, as an organization \u2014 we don\u2019t take the dawg s\u2014 lightly. We really feel like we\u2019re some dawgs. We really feel like (with) our back against the wall, the whole world counted us out. Now it\u2019s time to go; now it\u2019s time to keep swinging.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never doubted anything. \u2026 We\u2019re going to keep proving the world wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only thing standing between Detroit and its first trip to the Eastern Conference finals in 18 years is the Cleveland Cavaliers, another team that needed seven games to win its first-round series<\/a>. And with as much resolve and growth as the Pistons have shown to advance, they believe they\u2019re ready to meet the moment again come Game 1 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re going through playoff series and these situations, you have to be battle-tested,\u201d Bickerstaff said. \u201cYou have to respond, and you have to have the experience of having to do that. To do what we did this series only made us better for the next one. I know a lot of people would\u2019ve liked it to just be easier, but I think it was great for our guys.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo go through what they went through, to understand what it looks like and where they have to be in order to get it done \u2026 we understand that now, and we (will) take that with us to the second round.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014 All season, J.B. Bickerstaff has harped on one thing being paramount to the Detroit Pistons\u2019 long-term success: peaking at the perfect time. He\u2019s reiterated it from the Pistons\u2019 13-game win streak in November to their four-game losing streak in March. As Bickerstaff subbed out his starters Sunday to a standing ovation from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1916857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1916857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916857\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1916857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1916857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1916857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}