The Detroit Pistons had Game 5 in their pocket. They led by nine with under three minutes to play, the crowd at Little Caesars Arena was rocking, and Cade Cunningham was cooking on his way to a 39-point masterpiece. Then the floor caved in.
Cleveland closed regulation on a 13-0 run, dragged the game into overtime, and walked out of Detroit with a 117-113 win that has the Cavs up 3-2 in this Eastern Conference Semifinals series. James Harden poured in 30 points with 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Donovan Mitchell chipped in 21. The Cavs are now one win from their first conference finals trip since 2018.
The Pistons did not just lose a game. They lost their best chance to bury Cleveland on home court, and the postgame mood reflected it. Detroit went scoreless for five full minutes spanning the end of regulation and the middle of overtime. Five minutes. In a playoff game they were supposed to win.
Cunningham was magnificent. He shot 13-for-27, drilled 6 threes, dished out 9 assists, and tied Isiah Thomas for the most 30-point games in a single playoff run in Pistons franchise history. He was also the only Detroit player who scored more than 20. That is the problem.
Cleveland has four players who can punish you on any given night, and J.B. Bickerstaff cannot keep asking Cunningham to be a one-man army against a team this deep. Tobias Harris went quiet. Jalen Duren got swallowed by Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen on the interior. Ausar Thompson could not find a rhythm. Detroit needed a second scorer and got nothing close to it.
The controversial no-call at the end of regulation will get its own news cycle. Cunningham and Bickerstaff both called it out as a pretty clear foul, and they were right. But focusing on one missed whistle ignores the bigger truth, which is that Detroit was outscored 19-6 over the final stretch of regulation and overtime combined. Officiating did not blow that lead. The Pistons did.
Harden was the difference. He has been criticized for years about his playoff performances, and he answered with a vintage night when the Cavs needed it most. He attacked the basket, drew contact, kept the ball moving, and never let Detroit settle into a comfortable defensive scheme. If you still want to argue that Harden cannot deliver in the postseason, you are not watching this series.
Now the math gets ugly for Detroit. The Cavaliers host Game 6 on Friday in Cleveland, where they have been a different animal all year. The Pistons must steal one in a building that has not been kind to them, then come home and win a do-or-die Game 7 against a team that just stole their best shot.
The Knicks are already waiting in the Eastern Conference Finals after sweeping the Sixers. The matchup that everyone wanted, New York versus Detroit, just got significantly less likely. Cleveland is on the verge of crashing that party, and after Wednesday night, you have to like their chances of finishing the job.
Pistons fans have every right to be furious about that no-call. But if they want to find the real reason Detroit is staring down elimination, they should rewind the tape and watch those last five minutes. The Pistons had a series to win. They handed it back.
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.
