A season that promised much is now in real danger of ending disastrously for Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons are on the brink of elimination in the first round of the playoffs following a 94-88 loss to the Orlando Magic at Kia Center on Monday.
The East’s No. 1 seed being down 3-1 isn’t something many would have predicted, and Cunningham was asked postgame how shocked he is to be facing elimination.
“I mean, going into it, shocked,” Cunningham said, via Omari Sankofa II. “But the way that we’ve been playing, that stuff’s not good enough to win games in this league. This league’s too good. They’re a good team. They’re outrebounding us, turning me over, and we haven’t hit enough shots. Our defense hasn’t caught its footing, so it’s not shocking that we’re losing the games playing like that.”
The Pistons have been good defensively, but their offense has struggled mightily in this series. In Game 4, they went 31-82 (37.8%) from the field and 6-30 (20.0%) from beyond the arc. Pistons forward Tobias Harris felt they were too casual, and that is quite alarming.
The Magic, though, somehow managed to be even less efficient than the Pistons, as they went 30-92 (32.6%) from the field. Putting up 10 more shots helped, and that was down to their hauling in 16 offensive rebounds and forcing 20 turnovers. Cunningham had eight of those turnovers and voiced his frustration about them and the offensive rebounds.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” Cunningham said. “A lot of it was on myself. I was frustrated with my own play. Having numbers, not making plays in transition. Things like that, the things I do best, just not being able to make plays for my team.
“They killed us on the offensive glass,” Cunningham continued. “Our defense didn’t hold up, so all that stuff. We’re all frustrated… So we gotta fix, we gotta come back better.”
The Magic ended the night with 23 points off turnovers and 16 second-chance points. In a defensive slugfest like this, you cannot afford to let your opponent rack up such numbers.
There is a huge offensive burden on Cunningham, who had 25 points (7-23 FG), nine rebounds, six assists, and two blocks in Game 4, but he can’t make these many mistakes. The 24-year-old has 24 turnovers over the last three games, and according to ESPN Insights, that’s the most turnovers in a three-game span in the playoffs since the statistic was officially tracked in 1977-78.
We have seen James Harden have some atrocious stretches in the postseason over the years, and even he wasn’t ever this bad. Cunningham is now averaging 6.8 turnovers per game in this series, and to say that is terrible would be an understatement. The two-time All-Star is going to have to play far better moving forward if his team is to defy the odds.
NBA teams have managed to overturn 3-1 deficits only 13 times in league history. The Denver Nuggets were the last team to do it, back in 2020. The Nuggets actually did it twice that year, first against the Utah Jazz in the first round and then the Los Angeles Clippers in the Western Conference Semifinals.
Would you bet on these Pistons joining that list? Well, usually, a team that went 60-22 in the regular season would be given a good chance against a team like the Magic, which finished eighth with a 45-37 record.
The Pistons haven’t given us any reason to believe they’ll turn things around, though. Only six No. 8 seeds have defeated No. 1 in a playoff series, and the Magic should become the seventh in the coming days.
Game 5 tips off at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.
