5/15/26 7:00PM RD2 GM6 Pistons (2-3) @ Cavs (3-2)

[Tigeraholic1]

Rocket Arena - Cleveland, OH

[Deleterious]

[casimir]

34 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

Is Reed an RFA?

[Deleterious]

3 minutes ago, casimir said:

Is Reed an RFA?

No.  He is signed for one more season.

[Deleterious]

Duren has 0 total second chance points in the Cavs series so far.  He averaged 6 second chance points per game in the regular season.  

[Betrayer]

I'm not sure how to just link the video, so here's a link to the post on Reddit. KMart coming at Duren hard.

[Deleterious]

Big drop

 

[Deleterious]

 

[Deleterious]

They should have won games 3 and 5. 

We should be talking about the Knicks today.

[Betrayer]

43 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

They should have won games 3 and 5. 

We should be talking about the Knicks today.

Exactly.

I said in the other thread, but the Pistons are being forced to play on "Hard Mode" and spot Cleveland 15pts every game. It's kind of obvious and ridiculous and someone should be pressing the league about the disparity rather than just debating the one missed foul call on Ausar.

[buddha]

The cavs have two guys who are foul-getting machines: harden and mitchell.  those guys get respect and consequently get foul calls.  a majority of which they do not deserve (how many times can harden be allowed to run right into someone, throw back his head in a ridiculous fashion, and then get a call?  or kick out his feet on a jumper and get a call?).

the pistons have one superstar and one wanna be.  cade can get calls but doesnt sell it like harden/mitchell and consequently doesnt get as many BS calls as they do.  he also eschews contact at the basket sometimes (that said, he should be getting MORE calls for sure).  duren is supposed to be superstar #2 but as weve all pointed out, he isnt that and has been useless and gets no respect from officials.

the pistons are also very physical on defense.  sometimes too much so.

the league isnt cheating for cleveland, its cheating for mitchell/harden.  like it always has for superstars.

which - again - is another reason why the pistons need another star next to cade.  duren is not that player.

[papalawrence]

I'm still holding out hope....but why do they have Taps on loop on every elevator here?

[papalawrence]

15 hours ago, Betrayer said:

I'm not sure how to just link the video, so here's a link to the post on Reddit. KMart coming at Duren hard.

Ouch! And to think it's a contract season. He is costing himself a lot of dinero 

[Betrayer]

6 minutes ago, papalawrence said:

Ouch! And to think it's a contract season. He is costing himself a lot of dinero 

Honestly, that might be one of the positives to come out of this playoff run. Duren has been exposed and the organization should respond accordingly. Let the market dictate his value since he's an RFA and maybe work out a sign and trade. I doubt they'll do the latter, but at the very least his agent should get laughed out of the room if he requests over 30M.

Then again, sometimes these things are worked out during the season with the expectation that they'll happen in the offseason. They may have been stupid enough to already commit to a deal which would explain the long leash he's been getting from JB.

[Betrayer]

23 minutes ago, buddha said:

The cavs have two guys who are foul-getting machines: harden and mitchell.  those guys get respect and consequently get foul calls.  a majority of which they do not deserve (how many times can harden be allowed to run right into someone, throw back his head in a ridiculous fashion, and then get a call?  or kick out his feet on a jumper and get a call?).

the pistons have one superstar and one wanna be.  cade can get calls but doesnt sell it like harden/mitchell and consequently doesnt get as many BS calls as they do.  he also eschews contact at the basket sometimes (that said, he should be getting MORE calls for sure).  duren is supposed to be superstar #2 but as weve all pointed out, he isnt that and has been useless and gets no respect from officials.

the pistons are also very physical on defense.  sometimes too much so.

the league isnt cheating for cleveland, its cheating for mitchell/harden.  like it always has for superstars.

which - again - is another reason why the pistons need another star next to cade.  duren is not that player.

Sure, that explains why they might be getting more free throws than us. I expected that. But that's not what we're seeing. We're seeing something historic. Something that has literally never happened in the history of the NBA.

[buddha]

10 minutes ago, Betrayer said:

Sure, that explains why they might be getting more free throws than us. I expected that. But that's not what we're seeing. We're seeing something historic. Something that has literally never happened in the history of the NBA.

i understand, but i think that's the root of the problem.  tobias and duren get no respect and mitchell/harden get WAAAAY too much respect.  cade doesnt get enough respect.

i also think the officials dont like jb.  he's always barking at them, he does a lot of histrionics on the sideline if things go against the pistons, he's always showing them up.  theyre humans too and i doubt they enjoy it.  

i do recognize your point that this is outside the realm of normal, especially considering the cavs are a 3 point shooting team and the pistons live in the paint.  so i get it and i think it is unfair.

however, caris lavert, danniss jenkins, tobias harris, and jalen duren will get no respect from the refs.  maybe tobias, but certainly not the other three.  i think that's a part of nba life.

just wait til brunson gets 3 fouls on ausar in every first quarter while josh hart mugs cade.

[DTroppens]

20 hours ago, Deleterious said:

Duren has 0 total second chance points in the Cavs series so far.  He averaged 6 second chance points per game in the regular season.  

That is just incredible. Every day another stat surfaces that makes you wonder how any player that size playing that many minutes mostly inside the paint can't do any better. 

That means all of us here have as many second chance points as Duren in this series.

[DTroppens]

1 hour ago, buddha said:

The cavs have two guys who are foul-getting machines: harden and mitchell.  those guys get respect and consequently get foul calls.  a majority of which they do not deserve (how many times can harden be allowed to run right into someone, throw back his head in a ridiculous fashion, and then get a call?  or kick out his feet on a jumper and get a call?).

the pistons have one superstar and one wanna be.  cade can get calls but doesnt sell it like harden/mitchell and consequently doesnt get as many BS calls as they do.  he also eschews contact at the basket sometimes (that said, he should be getting MORE calls for sure).  duren is supposed to be superstar #2 but as weve all pointed out, he isnt that and has been useless and gets no respect from officials.

the pistons are also very physical on defense.  sometimes too much so.

the league isnt cheating for cleveland, its cheating for mitchell/harden.  like it always has for superstars.

which - again - is another reason why the pistons need another star next to cade.  duren is not that player.

Exactly. This is why I really don't worry about this stuff. Harrises and Jenkinses of the world aren't going to get the calls. 

And when you don't have the defense spaced like other teams, fouls are not going to get called as frequently. So much with fouls are visual when you are out in space. They are easier to see and call.  It's harder to ignore out in space when a defensive team is scrambling to help. When teams are just sitting 15 feet away from the hoop and are more ready  to collapse than run out to defend a trey, that helps the defense. 

I just get tired of Lions fans and other Detroit fans always complaining about everything officiating. This team was up 9 with about 2:30 to go. Win the game at home. And if you don't, you SHOULDN'T have won the game. You got the result you deserved. Complain about free throws all you want. You took what had to be somewhere about an 80 to 90% chance of a win and went into OT only because the Cavs didn't captialize on a chance to actually win the game.  The Pistons were lucky to go to OT when they were up by 9 with about 2:30 left. 

And, man are they awful in the third quarter. I think we won one third quarter and beyond that this team has been awful coming out of the half. One of my favorite things to chart is the "subtle six-point run" out of the half the last five or six years - not only in the NBA but the prep games I cover. I'm not talking about a 10-0 run, although that can be that. However, quite frequently a team will just steadily win the first five or six minutes (using the NBA for this one) with a 12-6 run, or maybe a 14-8 run. You hardly notice it, but it completely changes the dynamic of the game.  Last game that minor run meant the difference of being a two-point lead midway through the third or maybe a double-digit lead for the Pistons. Of course, the Cavs won it. These moments tell you who are making the adjustments and learning the first half.  

The Pistons haven't been the better team. In fact, as the series goes on, the Cavs are learning and really making the Pistons' offense as easily defensed as one would've expected a decent team would once you've played them three, four, five and now a sixth game. 

These are the themes that bother me. Fouls and free throws - yes it sucks, and looking at the numbers can easily make someone fall into the trap that says that's the series. It hasn't been the series. 

- The Pistons never seriously addressed the perimeter issue - especially after it was apparent Beasley wasn't coming back. It's biting them big time. 
- The Pistons are subpar to horrible in the third quarter. 
- The Pistons couldn't close out a nine-point lead with 2:30-something left in a home game.
- Duren has been a complete no-show. And is it up to him to step up? Of course, but the playoffs are 12 games deep and if anything he's getting worse on both sides of the floor, minus the occasional nice dish on offense.
- The Cavs had figured out how easy it is to defend the Pistons' no-perimeter offense. "Beat us from outside and we'll live with it, we just don't think you can, Pistons." 

I can't even get myself to worry about free throws.

All this said, and they can still win this series. I wouldn't bet my life on it. But it's still reasonably possible. 


 

[Betrayer]

Sorry, I'm not buying "that's just how it is", because it's actually not how it is. If it was, this wouldn't be the first time in league history. Compound that with the fact that the Pistons attack the paint and the Cavs shoot threes and it's even worse.

Jarrett Allen. A Center. A guy who's boxing out Duren and fighting in the paint all game. He got his first foul in the 4th quarter.

In the middle of the 2nd quarter the Cavs were whistled for their second foul of the entire game. Their second foul. The same thing happened in the last game when the Cavs where whistled for their first foul at the end of the 1st quarter. Meanwhile, they're grabbing and holding just as much as the Pistons on every screen and every drive.

Sorry, that's not legitimate. Let's be real here.

The Pistons are playing with one hand tied behind their backs. Could they have won anyway. Yup. Should they have to be 15 pts better than their opponent to win a game? No. Not in a real league that isn't bowing to the almighty the gambling dollar.

[Betrayer]

No Ducan tonight.

[Deleterious]

Hope I'm wrong.  But I'm feeling a blowout.