The Detroit Pistons were more talented, more focused, more ferocious, and had a big 18-point lead and an excited home crowd. Then the completely and unreservedly gave away the game to the young Portland Trail Blazers in a 110-101 loss.
If the Pistons are truly looking to turn the corner this season, this is a game they absolutely cannot lose. But they did lose. And they lost for familiar reasons. The team had 18 turnovers, including six from Cade Cunningham. They failed to get to the free-throw line, with the Blazers having a 17-point advantage at the charity stripe.
Detroit had a 12-point lead going into the second half, but careless play and empty possessions in the third quarter when Detroit seemingly felt like the Blazers simply would roll over allowed Portland to scratch and claw their way back into the game.
The Blazers were led by an explosive second-half performance from Shaedon Sharpe who scored 24 of his 29 points in the second half and had just one less trip to the free-throw line than Detroit did as a team.
The Pistons tried to stave off defeat by attempting to run out the clock and do just enough and essentially asking Cade to do everything. But Cade ran out of gas, started making really bad decisions with the ball (five turnvoers in the fourth quarter), and the offense completely stalled out.
Detroit might have had a chance if they could prevent Portland from getting to the free-throw line, but they were no match for Sharpe and didn’t get any friendly calls from the refs.
The Blazers scored on a Sharpe three to go up 96-93 at the 6:16 mark in the fourth. They then didn’t score again until 33 seconds remained in the game. But they were able to stretch their score and the lead to 106-101 because they kept marching to the charity stripe.
It’s a shame because before it all went to hell, the Pistons were having a great game and several players were showing out. Cade hit four first-half threes for the third time in his career. Isaiah Stewart was playing great defense, making passes and hitting shots. Ausar Thompson was scoring on cuts, playing great defense, and rebounding like a beast.
Joe Harris was hitting perimeter shots, which was sorely needed as the Pistons were playing without Jalen Duren or Alec Burks to go along with the already absent Bojan Bogdanovic, Monte Morris, and Isaiah Livers.
For those keeping count, that would be five rotation players and likely two starters missing. And Detroit was cruising. Until they weren’t.
The Pistons cannot afford to drop games like these. Their next five are against the Pelicans, Suns, Warriors, Bucks, and Sixers. If their not careful, they could be staring at a 2-8 record and all those good vibes from the first portion of the season will be gone.
Cade has to be better. The Pistons have to be better.