Detroit Pistons beat the Orlando Magic, 116-109, in Game 5 of the NBA playoffs on Wednesday at LCA.
Tobias Harris had 23 points and eight rebounds in Pistons’ 116-109 win over Magic in Game 5.
Detroit — There was nothing casual about the message Tobias Harris delivered earlier this week.
But there wasn’t anything overly dramatic about it, either, mostly because the Pistons’ veteran leader talks about the game the way he plays it: Seriously. Or professionally, if you will.
So there were no histrionics from Harris, even though he and the Pistons — the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs — suddenly found themselves facing elimination in their first-round series against the Orlando Magic.
Instead, Detroit’s most experienced player — a 15-year pro affectionately nicknamed “Unc” (Uncle) by his younger teammates — made his point matter-of-factly, calling out the Pistons for playing “a little too casual” and sternly calling for that to change.
“Every single guy — all of us — has to be better,” Harris said after that Game 4 loss in Orlando. “We have to look ourselves in the mirror and be better.”
They were, Wednesday night. All of them were, right from the opening tip, as the Pistons jumped out to an early lead and never trailed in Game 5. And while it was Cade Cunningham who led the way with his “controlled aggression all night,” pouring in 45 points — a new franchise playoff record — in Detroit’s 116-109 victory at Little Caesars Arena, you could argue it was Harris who’d showed the way 48 hours earlier.
“Whenever he talks, everybody listens,” said Isaiah Stewart, the Pistons’ combustible engine and longest-tenured player at age 24. “He’s been in these situations before. He has so much knowledge. And he has been helping us out a ton, just with his leadership and being able to talk to us younger guys and calming us down.”
Pistons finally answer
Or winding them up, in some cases. The Pistons’ young core got a taste of the playoffs a year ago in that first-round slugfest with the New York Knicks. But a half-dozen games doesn’t make a grizzled playoff vet in the NBA. And, quite frankly, Detroit’s problems through the first four games weren’t simply a function of the structural flaws we all saw in this roster — the lack of a secondary shot creator, the floor-spacing issues, and so on.
It was also the periodic lulls in energy and focus, the ill-timed defensive lapses, the careless — and, yes, casual — turnovers from Cunningham and others. (“I agree with Tobias,” Cunningham nodded after Game 4.) And though Wednesday’s effort was far from perfect, it was a far cry from what we’d seen in the deflating back-to-back losses in Orlando.
“It was a good response, obviously,” said Harris, who responded well himself with 23 points in Game 5, including a pair of clutch free throws to seal the win with 22.9 seconds left. “We put ourselves in this position. But it is what it is. So it’s about us being proactive and figuring out a way in these moments. And tonight we were able to do it. Loved our group’s energy.”
So did their coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, who’d been at a loss to explain — or solve — some of his team’s struggles in this series, from Jalen Duren’s tortured and tentative play to all the unforced turnovers and empty possessions. On Wednesday, there were still too many giveaways (17 turnovers), yet the Pistons certainly looked more like themselves with a 49-33 rebounding edge (16-8 on the offensive glass) and a 14-point edge in paint scoring.
“I mean, it was do or die, right?” Bickerstaff said. “So no matter what the moment was, no matter who they put out there on the floor, we knew that if we wanted our season to continue, we were going to have to give it all we had.”
No one gave more than Ausar Thompson, who wreaked havoc all night at both ends of the floor, finishing with 15 rebounds, six assists, five steals and two blocks. And afterward, Harris was raving about what the team had gotten from their All-Defense dynamo as he showed a “sense of urgency” for 36-plus minutes.
“The way that A.T. was playing tonight … those are winning basketball plays,” Harris said. “And that’s what we need more of from everybody who steps foot on the floor. That approach, that demeanor, is huge for our group.”
‘Security blanket’
So is what Harris is giving them, though. At 34, he’s often described by Bickerstaff as his “security blanket,” a trusted vet who serves as both a calming influence and an extension of the coaching staff on and off the court.
What he wasn’t supposed to be, though, was the Pistons’ No. 2 scoring option in these playoffs. Not after Duren elevated his game to an All-Star level — maybe even an All-NBA level, once the votes are tabulated next month — while averaging 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in the regular season.
But with Duren largely getting outplayed by Orlando’s Wendell Carter Jr. for most of this series, and Cunningham struggling to find room to operate as the Pistons’ three-point shooters keep firing blanks, it has been Harris who has provided the only other consistent offense for Detroit.
He hasn’t just been the Pistons’ second-leading scorer in the series. He has been the second-leading scorer in every game, including Wednesday, when he shot 9-of-18 from the field and also added eight rebounds and two steals in 31 minutes. That was despite what appeared to be a sprained ankle he suffered falling awkwardly into the basket stanchion on defense in the third quarter.
Harris, who is now listed as questionable on the injury report for Game 6, is averaging 19.8 points and 7.6 rebounds in the series, but over the last three games its 22 points and seven rebounds while shooting 49% from the field. And particularly in late-clock situations, he has been the one rescuing the Pistons from themselves, again and again.
Now then, he’ll be the first to admit his three-point shooting (4-for-24 in the series) has been a problem for the Pistons. His primary defensive assignment guarding Paolo Banchero is, too, at times. But Harris did hit a huge 3 midway through the fourth quarter in Game 5 to help fend off Orlando’s late push. And whatever he’s giving up on the defensive end isn’t affecting his aggressive approach offensively.
“I mean, he gets up and he’s excited for these moments,” Stewart said, “because he’s built for it.”
More than anything, though, he’s wired the right way. And determined to help this Pistons team find a way out of this hole they dug for themselves, whether it’s by words or deeds. Never mind that everyone else already had buried them after they fell behind 3-1 in the series.
“We kind of look each other in the eye as a team and say, ‘We just need to be better for each other,’” Harris said. “Like, I get it, everybody else out there has an opinion. But as a group, we don’t want to let each other down. And I think that’s the type of team we have. That’s the type of communication we have. And we know we can be better.”
Wednesday night, they proved they were listening, at the very least.
@JohnNiyo
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