{"id":670656,"date":"2026-05-14T15:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/670656\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T15:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:30:08","slug":"pistons-season-will-end-in-frustration-if-cade-cunningham-doesnt-get-help-asap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/670656\/","title":{"rendered":"Pistons\u2019 season will end in frustration if Cade Cunningham doesn\u2019t get help ASAP"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014 As the ball found the bottom of the net on a Tobias Harris 3-pointer with 3:02 remaining in regulation, everyone on the Detroit Pistons\u2019 bench rose to their feet in jubilation.<\/p>\n

Harris had just put the Pistons up nine points and had given all their fans in Little Caesars Arena belief that they would be heading back to Cleveland with a chance to close out this second-round series.<\/p>\n

It was a false sense of security, though, quickly evaporating as the Cavaliers scored nine straight points.<\/p>\n

Harris\u2019 3 was Detroit\u2019s last bucket in regulation on Wednesday. Cleveland forced six consecutive misses and two shot-clock violations as it stormed back and forced overtime before eventually winning Game 5 117-113<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Pistons\u2019 collapse was indicative of an issue their defense covered up throughout the regular season: They don\u2019t have a reliable source of offense outside of Cade Cunningham. Not when Cavaliers star James Harden had his first 30-point game of the postseason. Not when Daniss Jenkins, in his first playoff start, was the Pistons\u2019 second leading scorer with 19 points on 17 shots.<\/p>\n

And certainly not when Jalen Duren, Detroit\u2019s regular-season No. 2, was a game-low minus-16 en route to being benched in the fourth quarter for Paul Reed.<\/p>\n

The Pistons\u2019 lack of offensive firepower is why they fumbled the lead and why the Cavaliers up in the series 3-2. The offense once again sputtered late as Cleveland outscored the Pistons 23-10 from the moment Harris\u2019 3 went through the net to the end of overtime. Now the Pistons face another Game 6 on the road, tasked with playing for their postseason lives.<\/p>\n

There weren\u2019t any new revelations down the stretch. The Pistons have been in more clutch-time games than any team in the playoffs. They\u2019re 4-4 with a 91.5 offensive rating in those eight games, the lowest of any team still in the postseason. But Cunningham\u2019s 22 playoff points on 50 percent shooting in the clutch lead the NBA.<\/p>\n

If Detroit is to bring the series back home for a Game 7, someone other than Cunningham must step up. Duren did so through the first 82 games. Harris is averaging 20.2 points during this playoff run, but he had his worst game of the second season Wednesday with 13 points on 6-of-19 shooting<\/p>\n

The fact remains: The Pistons\u2019 offensive shortcomings aside from Cunningham limit their ceiling now, and for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about exploiting whatever they\u2019re doing that\u2019s getting us advantages,\u201d Cunningham said when asked how Detroit can generate more offense. \u201c(When the) ball\u2019s in my hands, I\u2019ve got to do a better job of getting the ball to the open man and allowing the rest of the team to play four-on-three situations. That\u2019s good offense for us; we\u2019ve got people who can finish plays and make plays out of those type of situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just haven\u2019t done a good enough job drawing two and getting the ball to guys cleanly where they can go execute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cunningham has consistently taken responsibility for the Pistons\u2019 offensive blemishes. While he\u2019s undoubtedly had costly turnovers throughout the postseason<\/a>, Cunningham still blamed himself fresh off 39 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, two steals and 48\/60\/88 shooting splits. The 24-year-old guard is leading the playoffs in total minutes (493), points (360) and assists (92).<\/p>\n

Whether Cunningham says so or not, he needs help on the offensive end. Just look at the Cavaliers. A game removed from Mitchell exploding for 39 second-half points, it was Harden who shouldered the load to help Cleveland claw back from a 15-point deficit. He had assistance from Max Strus (20 points) and Evan Mobley (19) on a night when Mitchell mustered 21 on 18 shots.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers have been the more complete team in their last three wins. But Detroit still believes it has what it takes to force a Game 7.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to have to choke the life out of this team,\u201d Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to go down without a fight. We\u2019re not going to go down without kicking, punching, grabbing, clawing. That\u2019s just who we are. We\u2019ve been in this position before, and we were able to work our way through it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect our guys to be ready mentally to go out and compete at a high level and bring this thing back (to Detroit).\u201d<\/p>\n

As encouraging as that sounds, Detroit didn\u2019t look the part in Game 5\u2019s waning moments. With 45 seconds left in the fourth and the score all even at 103, Bickerstaff drew up an isolation for Cunningham after a timeout. Cunningham had Strus on an island near the Pistons\u2019 logo, then got to the left wing as Harden sprinted over to show a double-team with Mobley and Jarrett Allen parked in the paint.<\/p>\n

Cunningham has drained those shots routinely, but this one was wide right and bounced off the rim.<\/p>\n

Harris, though, was able to track down the offensive board and found Caris LeVert, but he air-balled a midrange jumper, leading to Detroit\u2019s fourth shot-clock violation of the quarter. While Cunningham got a look he likely felt confident in, the subsequent sequence illuminated just how much Cunningham \u2014 and the team \u2014 needs offensive reinforcements.<\/p>\n

LeVert has played well this series, but there should have been a more advantageous offensive opportunity than the one the Pistons got on their final shot in regulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got our spots,\u201d Bickerstaff said. \u201cWe know where to put the ball when they do double-team (Cunningham). We walk through that type of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time for Detroit to show they know how to handle Cleveland\u2019s coverages of Cunningham. If not, the Pistons will have a long summer of frustration knowing they couldn\u2019t capitalize on Cunningham\u2019s stellar postseason play. He\u2019s proven capable of being the best player on a team with championship aspirations.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight was tough. Tough loss, obviously wanted to protect home court,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cWe failed to do that. Being up 3-2 is an advantage for them. It\u2019s first to four wins, though. We know that. We\u2019ve had our back against the wall before. And at the end of the day, if we can\u2019t win a game on the road, how far are we really going to get in the playoffs? How far are we going to get in this league?<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019ve got to go win a game on the road. That\u2019s what we\u2019re going to go do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 As the ball found the bottom of the net on a Tobias Harris 3-pointer with 3:02…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,7214,590,85],"class_list":["post-670656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}