Pistons got a preview of their worst nightmare

Cade Cunningham had a monster night against the Toronto Raptors, but the Detroit Pistons still lost, which is the worst-case scenario for the first round of the playoffs. 

The Raptors are part of the group of teams the Pistons could end up playing in the first round if Detroit can hold onto the first seed. Toronto is back up to 6th after winning yesterday, but they are just a half game ahead of the Heat for the final guaranteed playoff spot. 

If the Pistons end up in the first seed and if the Raptors are a play-in team, yesterday could have been a preview of the first round of the playoffs. If so, the Pistons are hoping for a much different result. 

Cade Cunningham and the empty Pistons’ bench 

Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren and Tobias Harris scored 74 combined points last night, which would be enough for Detroit to claim victory on most nights, but not when the rest of the team scores a combined 34 points. 

If you want to see what teams are going to do to the Pistons in the playoffs, go watch yesterday’s game again, as the Raptors picked Cade up full court almost the entire game and threw extra bodies at him every time they got the chance. 

They dared anyone else to beat them, and there was no one there to answer the call, especially in the third quarter when the Pistons managed just 17 points. 

I hate to say it, but this is the blueprint for how to beat the Pistons in the playoffs, as it doesn’t really matter how big a night Cade has if he has to work his butt off to get it, and no one else chips in to complement him. 

The Pistons haven’t had consistent contributions from their bench all season, and it’s not likely to start on a night when JB Bickerstaff desperately turned to 11 different players in the first 15 minutes of the game. 

It can’t be the Cade Show all of the time, and if teams can effectively stop everyone else, the Pistons are very beatable, especially when they don’t even win at their own game. 

The Pistons got beaten Detroit style 

The Pistons gave up an incredible 20 offensive rebounds yesterday, which is one of the main reasons they lost. Both teams shot the same percentage, and for once, the Pistons actually made more 3-pointers than their opponent, but it didn’t matter because the Raptors took six more shots. 

Detroit was also outscored in the paint, which rarely happens, as they have outscored opponents by 15 in the paint on average this season. 

These are two battles they absolutely cannot lose and still expect to win the game, as the Pistons use offensive rebounds and paint points to make up for their lack of outside shooting. 

It’s one loss, so there is no need to panic, but the Pistons just got a preview of the worst-case scenario, which is they run into a team in the first round that has figured out how to stop them and beat them at what they do best.