In the aftermath of Game 5 between the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers, there were quotes about “mental toughness,” “mental fortitude,” and “resiliency, grit.” Based on everything we know from this season, surely those quotes came to describe the Detroit Pistons?
No, those were quotes from Kenny Atkinson, Donovan Mitchell and Max Strus of the Cavs. They were describing their effort to come back, steal home-court advantage and give themselves a chance to end this series in Cleveland on Friday.
Now to no one’s surprise, the Pistons believe they are still in this. Cade Cunningham reminded us that “it’s first to four wins.” J.B. Bickerstaff was a little louder with the Pistons’ overall mindset. Their backs may be against the wall, but the mission remains clear. The palms won’t be dry, the knees are not weak, etc.
That’s been the Pistons’ identity all season, and it has lifted them to this point. They have a team mindset and mentality. A swarming and active defense. A leader in Cunningham, whose 30 points a night in the playoffs are the most in Pistons franchise history.
But can the Pistons lean on that identity and those pillars to save their season? Or will what got them this far ultimately be their undoing?
Can Cunningham, Duren find their rhythm?
For their season to continue and for the Pistons to really fire, they will need their engine, Cunningham, running at a high level.
The journey of the series has gone up and down. Early on, Cunningham worked to make the Cavaliers’ defense pay. That led to Cleveland delivering a number of different defensive schemes. The battle now is if Cleveland can keep mixing things up, or if Cunningham can work to poke at each scheme.
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Cleveland’s first shift was working to use its bigs to trap Cunningham. Take his space away, force the ball out of his hands.
The key has been the Cavaliers’ weakside defense. You would assume two on the ball would open up the roller, but the Cavs have planted defenders in the lane. Ausar Thompson has been effective when getting to the next action, but that has not swayed Cleveland’s desire to help.
I mentioned that Detroit should be able to open things up for the roller, mainly because I want to talk about Jalen Duren. It has not been a fun playoffs for Duren. The chorus is loud, the saxophones are getting louder. He’ll have to play with more more energy and aggression if the Pistons want to save this season.
The playmaking and short roll decision-making seen in the regular season has been dimmer than Detroit has needed so far. There is a level of nuance the Cavs are using defensively. Duren was able to make adjustments in the Orlando series to mix in slips versus the Magic’s switching. But a slip against Jarrett Allen just ends with Allen dropping and taking the roll.
An adjustment to leave a corner empty with Evan Mobley trapping Cade just leads to Harden waiting for Duren in the paint. Even running empty side pick-and-roll with Caris LeVert has led to Cleveland working to take away that roll and give up the space. Orlando used pure switching to take Duren off the board. Cleveland has worked to give a mix of looks to disrupt his rhythm and reads, removing the automatic nature we saw during the season.
Can Cunningham win his matchups?
The other portion that has not helped Duren is that Detroit is leaning more into attacking matchups for Cunningham. Duren not being a screener sends him to the dunker spot, so it’s on Cade to win a whole lot of these matchups, as he did in the Orlando series. Timely baskets will be key.
The issue is how much room will he have? Combine the Cavs helping off Thompson and it can hurt both Cunningham and Duren. The Pistons will have to move Cade around the board. A shift to clearing the wings once Cunningham gets a matchup tends to give him room to operate. Quick decisions could allow him to get downhill before the defense can get set.
The secret part of Cunningham winning matchups is the potential that it pokes at Cleveland’s comfort with switching. The scoring is important, but the more he can open up for Detroit’s offense the better.
Being able to use Tobias Harris or Thompson as rollers opens up forcing the big to help. It can take a guard out of help, force a big to step up and open sprays.
The trick is Cunningham solving Cleveland’s pick-and-roll defense and attacking matchups. Time and time again in this series we have seen the Cavaliers send random doubles. The positive for the Pistons is that gets Cleveland in rotation and gets openings for Detroit.
The balance of taking shots and drives is key, but as the end of Game 5 showed, the Pistons will have to make shots. If Cade can force doubles and Detroit can make them pay, they open a window. Cleveland will rotate to shorten those.
The secret sauce for Detroit?
Their defense has to be clean. Yes, Harden has proven exactly why Cleveland brought him in. But Detroit has to have strong team defense and rotations. The margin for error they had versus Orlando is not here this series.
We’ve seen the Pistons’ activity and help defense force Cleveland to turn the ball over. We have also seen Cleveland poke at matchups, drive and play out of knowing Detroit’s weakside defense will pull in. A lot of teams like to clear a side or a corner in pick-and-roll. Cleveland is spacing Sam Merrill and Max Strus on the same side to open things up.
Cleveland has done everything it’s supposed to do to flip this series. Detroit has to get Cunningham going, and it needs its defense to perform at a high level to win.
Elimination games can be weird. One side is trying to find the rhythm of the series, the other is sprinting toward a win. The Pistons are prepping for James Harden and Donovan Mitchell, and Cleveland just needs a Dennis Schröder, Max Strus or Sam Merrill game to advance.
The bones of what made the Pistons the top team in the East can earn them a comeback. It could also be their downfall.
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