As soon as the Detroit Pistons' season came to an end, the question of what went wrong immediately began to surface.
Many blamed the regression of Jalen Duren, the injury of Cade Cunningham that took him out for weeks to close the regular season, and even the lackluster decisions from J.B. Bickerstaff, especially in the series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
However, one of the biggest excuses people made for Detroit's playoff disaster was the team's failure to capitalize on homecourt advantage, dropping several games in the Motor City throughout their postseason run.
Considering the team fought all season long to secure the No. 1 seed and homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, it's understandable why failing to utilize the main advantage the top seed in the conference offers is a fair reason to be frustrated.
At the same time, the current trend in the NBA Finals proves that homecourt advantage is no longer what it used to be, and Detroit's second-round exit doesn't stem from the inability to protect their court.
The home team has yet to wn a game in the NBA FInals
The New York Knicks currently hold a 2-1 series lead over the San Antonio Spurs as Wednesday's Game 4 approaches.
San Antonio's big win on Monday night not only helped the Spurs avoid a sweep in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2018.
Beyond that, though, the Spurs' big win kept the Finals trend of the home team failing to protect homecourt alive.
The Knicks stole both games to start the series in the Lone Star State, and now Mitch Johnson's young squad has seemingly caused a riot in the streets of New York after their Game 3 win, which ruined the first game the NBA Finals have returned to Madison Square Garden since 1999.
The current pattern in the NBA Finals all but proves that homecourt no longer matters as it used to, and the Pistons' downfall didn't stem from their inability to defend LCA, but the shortcomings instead came from the simple fact that they're not as close as their top seed suggested they were.
Pistons aren't as close to contending as they thought
Cade Cunningham's emergence has proven the team can build a title contender around him, but that's about the only positive that can really be taken away from Detroit's playoff run.
The bench is simply not good enough, and with no player that Bickerstaff and the team can really rely on, it's hard for Detroit to truly gauge how close they are until they find a healthy mix of viable starters to help alleviate the pressure on Cunningham and a solid bench rotation that can be relied on in a seven-game series.
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