All the Magic was on Orlando’s side as the Detroit Pistons dropped Game 3 113-105 to the Orlando Magic and face a 2-1 series deficit and plenty of questions. I’m not sure how many of them have answers Pistons fans are comfortable with.
The Pistons played awful basketball nearly the entire game, but somehow found themselves taking a 105-104 lead with 2:52 remaining. It was the last points Detroit would score on the night as Orlando went on a 9-0 run to close out the game and take command of the series.
Franz Wagner hit a tough step-back jumper and a deep above-the-break 3 to score the first five for Orlando. The true backbreaker, though, was a 25-foot heave from Paolo Banchero that hit the back of the rim, bounced straight up in the air, and casually dropped into the net.
Whether it was some Orlando magic or the Basketball Gods taking stock, we’ll never know, but the Pistons did not truly deserve to be in the game late.
Cade Cunningham had a great fourth quarter, but before that was absolutely pitiful. He had nine turnovers on the night, including a critical one with 58 seconds left in a five-point game when he slipped on the floor near the rim amid not incredibly intense defense.
Even worse was yet another absolute dreadful performance from Jalen Duren. The Pistons big man dicated so much of how Detroit has found offensive success this season, but his game and his confidence have disappeared in this postseason. He had eight points and nine rebounds on 3-of-10 from the field. That’s not going to get it done.
Conversely, Orlando’s most important players stepped up. Desmond Bane finally had a Desmond Bane game, hitting seven threes en route to 25 points. Banchero had 25 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists. Players like Jalen Suggs and Wendell Carter Jr. did all the little things you need to do to win in the playoffs.
Detroit didn’t do those little things, they only surfaced big questions.
Questions like where they can turn when Cunningham faces so much full-court pressure and double teams. At times this season, the answer has been Duren and Daniss Jenkins. In the playoffs, those options have been not just unreliable but actively hurting Detroit on the floor. There are questions about who can create shots outside of Cade. The answer there might be, well, nobody.
Tobias Harris stepped up with 23 points, including some critical buckets late to bring Detroit back. Ausar Thompson was an offensive saftey valve when Detroit’s offense had completely dried up. But you’re not winning a playoff series on the backs of offense from Harris and Thompson. And the Pistons might not win this playoff series at all.
Orlando is certainly in full control, and Detroit will need answers. Those answers likely need to start with Cunningham and Duren. It’s simply how the team is built and how the offense needs to function. If they can’t figure out how to be successful on the floor, both together and when the other sits, then this series is over and Detroit has a lot of tough questions heading into an unexpectedly early offseason.
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