4/25/26 1:00PM Rd1 Gm3 Pistons 1-1 @ Magic 1-1

[buddha]

how much harder to defend would this team be if you swapped out duren for lauri markkanen?  yeah yeah, he gets hurt a lot.  i get it.  but an elite 4/5 who can space the floor would allow cade so much more room.

how about zion?  someone - ANYONE - other than cade who can get their own shot.  how about a wing who can shoot?  

you can have duren and ausar on the team but its hard to win with both of them because theyre both incapable of making a shot over 5 feet from the basket.  they may have to choose this offseason.

[papalawrence]

18 minutes ago, buddha said:

ron holland, top 5 pick in the draft.  

dnp-cd

That's the biggest head scratcher for me. His 3% has been improving, and his spark on D gets them into more of a transition game. Orlando is bigger and much better in a half court game. Regardless this exposes what analysts have been saying all season - they play with grit but are not as talented. I actually still think Det takes this series in 7. But they are not a true contender

[buddha]

Just now, papalawrence said:

That's the biggest head scratcher for me. His 3% has been improving, and his spark on D gets them into more of a transition game. Orlando is bigger and much better in a half court game. Regardless this exposes what analysts have been saying all season - they play with grit but are not as talented. I actually still think Det takes this series in 7. But they are not a true contender

i think orlando is a bad matchup for detroit because theyre so big.  i thought they'd beat orlando (and they still might) because orlando is soft and hate their coach.  but not if duren is MIA and no one else shoots well other than cade.

detroit can still win but they have to PLAY HARD for the whole game and cade has to be engaged for 40 minutes, not just the last 5.

detroit would be favored over atlanta and new york and maybe toronto, but not cleveland or boston.

[buddha]

Trajan treated this team like he didnt believe in it.  they didnt go for it.  didnt make a big move.  instead all he did was trade up in next year's draft.  like he still doesnt think the pistons are good enough to get robin to cade's batman.  

[Deleterious]

First rule of wanting a big contract.  Don't let Wendell ****ing Carter outplay you.  

[chasfh]

good lord, we're gonna get run out in round 1, aren't we?

[buddha]

Elite

 

[papalawrence]

Since Duren is a restricted FA, I have a hunch Trajan will offer him less than a max, and then likely match any offer another team puts on the table. He is not a max player. He is still developing and could become that. But that's doubtful in today's nba game

[Betrayer]

3 hours ago, buddha said:

i think orlando is a bad matchup for detroit because theyre so big.  i thought they'd beat orlando (and they still might) because orlando is soft and hate their coach.  but not if duren is MIA and no one else shoots well other than cade.

detroit can still win but they have to PLAY HARD for the whole game and cade has to be engaged for 40 minutes, not just the last 5.

detroit would be favored over atlanta and new york and maybe toronto, but not cleveland or boston.

Yep. I said it from before the first game - Orlando is a terrible matchup for us. Cleveland is our other worst matchup in the East and that’s our prize if we get out of this round. They’re both big teams that clog the paint on defense. 

But it’s mind boggling to me that in the regular season we’d see lineups of at least a few minutes with Stew at the 4 and Duren at the 5, yet against this big Orlando team where it would actually be useful JB refuses to play that lineup at all and instead keeps going small. 
 

 

[Sports_Freak]

6 hours ago, papalawrence said:

That's the biggest head scratcher for me. His 3% has been improving, and his spark on D gets them into more of a transition game. Orlando is bigger and much better in a half court game. Regardless this exposes what analysts have been saying all season - they play with grit but are not as talented. I actually still think Det takes this series in 7. But they are not a true contender

The announces said today that winners of game 3 who go up 2 games to one win the series at 70+%. So yes, we can still win.  But the odds are against us.

[Deleterious]

On a day Cade could have used some help, Dosunmu goes off for 36 points.  

[Deleterious]

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

On a day Cade could have used some help, Dosunmu goes off for 36 points.  

43 

[Deleterious]

 

[DTroppens]

On 4/25/2026 at 4:16 PM, buddha said:

all year long we've all (well, all of us that arent blinded by pretty stats against bad teams) said this team was flawed and cade dependent.  all year long weve all said they are a try hard team who beats teams that dont care.  all year long we said they didnt have enough spacing and teams would take away the lane/pick and roll come playoff time.

and that's exactly what has happened so far.  theyve played better than orlando in ONE quarter so far.  thats it.

This with one or two other points has been pretty much my thoughts all season. 

I really tried to enjoy the regular season and initially hoped by the trade deadline something would change this dynamic so that this team could legitimately contend in the playoffs. When it didn't, I just tried to enjoy the regular season and just hope I was wrong. My nephew (who I go to the occasional game with or we exchange texts during games) tried to convince me otherwise, but it was always apparent after the trade deadline this team was going to find it mighty hard in every round of the playoffs. I would've hoped they could get out of the first round. At the very least I wanted them to get that first playoff series win, but even that is looking crazily hard.

The Pistons win game #4 and it's basically best of three with two games in Detroit. Have to win game #4.