Ausar Thompson Sends Defiant Message After Pistons’ Game 7 Collapse Against Cavaliers
Ausar Thompson is not the type of player who lets a humiliation slide quietly. After the Detroit Pistons got blown out 125-94 by the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Sunday, the third-year wing made it clear he is filing every second of that loss away for later.
Detroit was the top seed in the East. They had homecourt at Little Caesars Arena. They were favored. None of it mattered as the Cavs put up 64 points in the first half and never looked back, ending the Pistons’ 60-win season with the kind of beating that does not fade.
Thompson did not pretend otherwise. Speaking with Eric Woodyard of ESPN after the game, the 23-year-old defender refused to brush off how personal the series felt.
“No, I’m not forgetting. I’m not forgetting. I mean, that series, that felt personal,” Thompson said. “So, I’m not forgetting it. I remember.”
Good for him. Detroit took a 2-0 lead in that series before Cleveland reeled off three straight wins, and the Pistons had to fight back from a 3-2 hole just to force a Game 7 at home. When the moment finally arrived, they came out flat and got embarrassed in front of their own crowd. That is the kind of loss that defines an offseason if a team lets it.
Thompson Was Not the Problem in Game 7
The box score will not save Thompson either. He finished with just 5 points on 2-of-7 shooting along with 7 rebounds, 6 of them defensive, and 2 blocks. But anyone who actually watched the game knows he was one of the only Pistons who looked like he gave a damn about competing for 48 minutes.
Cade Cunningham fell apart in the second half and finished with 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting. Jalen Duren managed 7 points and 9 rebounds. Not a single Piston cracked 17 points. Thompson can stew on the loss all he wants, but the players he should be calling out are the ones whose names sit higher on the depth chart and who are getting paid like stars.
This Has to Become Fuel
The Pistons are at a crossroads. They won 60 games, finished as the No. 1 seed in the East, and somehow turned that into a second-round exit that will be remembered for the wrong reasons. Some fans were calling them the worst No. 1 seed ever before the final buzzer.
If Thompson is serious about not forgetting, the rest of the roster needs to match that energy. The Pistons have the youth and athleticism to come back next year as a real threat, but only if they treat this offseason like an emergency instead of a reset. Detroit has bigger needs than another developmental year for its stars.
The Cavaliers are off to the Eastern Conference Finals to face the New York Knicks. The Pistons are headed home with a lot to think about. Thompson seems to already know what he heard from the doubters during this series. Now we will see whether his teammates were listening too.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
