Early in the third quarter on Thursday night, Cade Cunningham gathered his Detroit Pistons teammates for a quick huddle. Jalen Duren had just sent Trayce Jackson-Davis to the free-throw line, and the Golden State Warriors’ 10-point halftime lead was now 14. The group needed to shift momentum.
In past nights during the Pistons’ 10-3 stretch, this could have been the turning point that allowed them to springboard into a comeback. But this time, it just wasn’t enough. Despite the Pistons trimming the lead to single digits multiple times, the Warriors won 107-104 at Little Caesars Arena, snapping the Pistons’ five-game winning streak.
Even after forcing Stephen Curry to miss his most 3s of the season — the Warriors star went 2 of 14 from deep —Detroit couldn’t pull off an 18-point comeback on the second night of a back-to-back and was plagued by similar self-inflicted issues from earlier in the season. There are valuable lessons to be learned even in defeat.
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Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff has repeatedly discussed taking steps toward sustained success. Even this loss, to a Golden State team that had lost nine of its previous 13 games, can be an opportunity to move closer toward that end goal. To some degree, the fact a standard is even being set is an improvement, as bleak as that might sound.
“For it to come down to situational basketball, that’s all you can ask for,” Bickerstaff said. “Play against experienced guys, who understand situations, end of games, fourth-quarter plays, the pressure that comes with the fourth quarter. So all of this stuff, for us, is a learning process. And again, we’ve gotten better.
“We’ve taken huge steps to become a better basketball team, individually and collectively. We’ll be better for it on Saturday.”
While Detroit has undoubtedly taken strides this season, it slipped in some key areas on Thursday. The Pistons turned the ball over 14 times for what would become 25 Warriors points. They allowed 15 offensive rebounds, and Golden State outscored them 21-6 in second-chance points.
To Detroit’s credit, however, it outscored the Warriors 57-50 through the final 24 minutes, holding them to 42.9 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from 3-point range. The Pistons also had just two of their 14 turnovers in the second half.
“We’re taking the right steps, we’re on the right path and we’re moving where we want to go,” said Cunningham, who had a game-high 32 points and eight assists, along with six rebounds and three steals. “We have a long way to go still. I mean, we want to be competing for championships at the end of the day. (Being) .500 isn’t our goal, but you have to take all the steps. We can’t skip any steps, so we’re super excited to be at this point.
“I’ve never been here in my career. A lot of the guys that have been around haven’t been to this point, so credit to the vets that have came in and the coaching staff, for sure.”
Malik Beasley, who has become the No. 2 scoring option with Jaden Ivey (broken fibula) sidelined, added 21 points but shot 4-of-14 from long range.
“We could’ve easily folded, we could’ve easily made excuses that it was the second night of a back-to-back,” Beasley said. “We were down 10 at half, came back, made a great run and then we just couldn’t pull through. But the growth of this team, to show how hard we have each other’s back.”
Tim Hardaway Jr. was a late scratch because of lower back tightness. The Pistons were without two starters, but they are more focused on finding ways to grow from losses than on who is missing.
“I don’t want to blame it on the back-to-back,” Cunningham said. “We can make excuses about all the different factors, but that’s part of the NBA. You’ve got to come in locked in, ready to go.”
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(Photo of Cade Cunningham and Golden State’s Kyle Anderson: Rick Osentoski / Imagn Images)
