Focus on the last shot if you must — on the missed 3-point attempt by Tim Hardaway Jr. from the corner as time expired in Game 4 of this first-round NBA playoff series between the Detroit Pistons and the New York Knicks.
Focus on the foul that wasn’t called. Or could have been called. No one would blame you.
Or point to the jumper Cade Cunningham missed from near the free throw line that would’ve given the Pistons a one-point lead with 5 seconds left — just 5 seconds from tying the series at two games apiece. Just 5 seconds from a stellar turnaround in a game in which they trailed by 16 in the first half.
Point to any number of things, really, as to the reasons the Pistons lost, 94-93, and now trail the Knicks, 3-1, headed back to New York for Game 5. But first, point to the laws of the NBA playoffs, and to the Pistons' relative youth, and to the lessons that need to be learned to win this time of year.
The Pistons led by 11 when it came time to start making the plays to win the game. And if that sounds familiar, it should be: It has been a pattern all series.
In three of the first four games, the Pistons had a sizable lead at some point in the fourth quarter. All three times they’ve given up the lead down the stretch because they couldn’t make enough plays.
Yeah, Cunningham had the chance to make a memory and make a moment. Instead, the stars on the other side did.
Down the stretch, Karl-Anthony Towns hit a 3-pointer when Duren lost him on the weak side. He followed with a tough, fading shot on the baseline. Then hit another 3-pointer. Jalen Brunson squeezed a bank-shot from the lane between Towns’ stellar shot making.
The Pistons, meanwhile, turned it over twice during the same span. Well, let’s be honest, Cunningham had both the turnovers. Once trying to split a double-team. Once trying a no-look pass to the corner.
Turnovers out of inexperience? Sure. But also because of decision-making. Here’s guessing he will learn.
And soon.
Just as his team learned after a horrific first half.
The Pistons began the game out of sorts. That led to frustration. And it built through the first half on the back of so many missed threes and casual turnoverss.
Ausar Thompson throwing it out of bounds instead of to Jalen Duren. Cunningham dribbling into too many bodies in the lane.
The frustration led to a dip in poise and calm, and when Ron Holland stole the ball from Towns and Towns grabbed Holland, the rookie forward turned as if he wanted to fight. That kind of fire has helped Holland make a difference this season.
But time and place are everything, and this was neither. Holland had been frustrated with his play, and that’s normal. Yet in the playoffs, it's always about the next play.
Cunningham raced over and shoved Holland back. Hard.
He wanted to protect him from himself and also send a message:These are the playoffs.
Or, as their coach likes to say: Urgency without panic.
The Pistons were bordering on panic. It showed up in lots of little ways.
Such as the first possession of the second quarter on an inbounds play. Tom Thibodeau called for the Knicks to press up. The Pistons weren’t ready. Holland tried to throw the ball off a Knicks player before a potential 5-second violation. He threw it away.
A forced turnover, technically, but unforced, too, because the Pistons panicked in the moment. Finally, a couple of veterans settled things, and they finished the first half with an 11-2 run.
Hardaway Jr. hit a 3-pointer. Then Tobias Harris led the surge, powering his way to pair of three-point plays. Harris had been in foul trouble in Game 3 and when he was on the floor didn’t show the same zip he’d shown in New York.
He was all over the place in Game 4, though, helping to guard Towns and attacking the rim on the break. The push got the Pistons back in the game and set up the third quarter that led to the 11-point lead, helped by Malik Beasley breaking out of his slump.
That set up the fourth quarter. And the shaky play down the stretch. The Pistons aren’t separated by much against the Knicks — another shot-maker, perhaps.
But the true difference in the series has been poise, and the ability to make the small plays.
The little things, as Cunningham called them after the Game 3 loss.
New York keeps making a few more.
Contact Shawn Windsor:swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him@shawnwindsor.
