The Detroit Pistons lost a gut-wrenching game last night that made fans like me lose sleep.
Losing a one-point game in the playoffs is always tough, but it’s even tougher when it's the third loss in the series and your team had a chance to win all three.
The Pistons had their opportunities but couldn’t put the finishing touches on the Knicks and now they are staring down the barrel of an elimination game in Madison Square Garden.
There was plenty of blame to go around, as the Pistons played their worst half of the playoffs in the first half last night, with copious turnovers and poor shooting. They were lucky to only be down seven at the half.
They also weren’t helped by the refs, who bailed the Knicks out a few times, including on the final play when Tim Hardaway Jr. was fouled on a 3-point attempt, a mistake the refs admitted right away, not that it’s any consolation to the Pistons or their fans.
But there was a mistake early in the game that didn’t seem like much at the time but ended up being critical for the Detroit Pistons.
JB Bickerstaff has made bad challenges all series
Coach's challenges are tricky, as you only get one if you get it wrong, so you have to pick your spots carefully.
That doesn’t necessarily mean saving it for the end of the game, as points and fouls in the first quarter count the same as in the 4th.
There are often arguments for using a challenge early on, especially if it's on a play when a key player picks up an early second or third foul that could change the landscape of the game.
But that wasn’t the case last night in the first quarter when coach Bickerstaff inexplicably burned a challenge on an out of bounds call with the score at 10-8.
There wasn’t a foul called on the play. There weren’t even any points scored, so best case scenario is that the Pistons get the ball out of bounds down by two points in the first quarter.
They didn’t even get that, as Bickerstaff lost the challenge, leaving the Pistons with none for the rest of the game, which came into play several times later on when there were contentious calls or non-calls he may have wanted to challenge.
If you are going to use a challenge at that point in the game, you absolutely have to win it, so it had better be a clear-as-day bad call that you are 100 percent certain is going to get reversed.
That wasn’t the case last night, as the replay wasn’t clear and what was shown affirmed the call on the court.
JB wants to back his guys, which is what he was doing, as Cade Cunningham was emphatically calling for a replay, but he can’t lose sight of the context of the game in the process, as that just wasn’t a play that warranted a challenge.
Coach Bickerstaff has lost multiple challenges this series early in the game, and like I said, if you are going to take one early, you have to be right.
It would have been nice to have a challenge on the final play, as the refs looked at it right after and admitted they missed the call, so likely would have awarded THJ the free throws.
There wasn’t one mistake or call that in itself cost the Pistons the game, but they aren’t talented enough to overcome the culmination of mistakes, bad calls and bad decisions and they had plenty of all three last night.