The Detroit Pistons proved they were more than just a nice story, pushing the more experienced Knicks to six games in their first-round series before ultimately coming up short.
Given that their best players are all 23 years old or younger, the league should be put on notice that the Pistons aren’t going away anytime soon and should only be stronger the next chance they get in the postseason.
The series was so close that a couple of little things here and there could have swung it in the Pistons’ favor, and even though they will be proud of the transformational season they had, there will be a few nagging what-ifs that dog them this summer.
What if Isaiah Stewart hadn’t gotten injured?
This is the biggest what-if of them all, as the Pistons lost their best interior defender, which undoubtedly had an effect on the series.
With just Paul Reed as backup, the Pistons were forced to use Jalen Duren for big minutes. I thought Duren had a pretty good series overall, competed and didn’t back down from the big moment, but there were times when the Pistons could have used Beef Stew.
Considering the Knicks won the three games at LCA by a combined eight points, it’s hard to believe that Stewart wouldn’t have made a difference, especially in game four when Karl-Anthony Towns went off.
Injuries happen, but this one came at the worst possible time (a problem with Stewart), which is going to make for a long summer for Beef Stew, who will spend it wondering how he missed out on all the fun and how things might have gone differently if he hadn’t.
What if Jaden Ivey could have played?
This one is less of a what-if for me, as Ivey had been out since January and there was no chance, he was going to play in this series.
But the Pistons could have used his scoring, as they struggled to find consistency behind Cade Cunningham and needed someone else who could break down a defense.
The Pistons had been playing without Ivey for a while and took off when he was taken out of the starting five, but this series highlighted how much the Pistons need another scoring option behind Cade Cunningham, as the Knicks were happy to let anyone else try to beat them.
What if the ref had just made the call on Tim Hardaway Jr’s final shot in game four?
Look, I am not blaming the refs for the Pistons coming up short in this series. Detroit had their chances, missed some big shots and the Knicks hit most of theirs, but man, you have to wonder how this series might have gone if Tim Hardaway Jr. gets that foul call at the end of game four.
The refs (and Josh Hart) admitted it was a foul, and had they just called it, it’s very likely the series is tied at 2-2. We would have gotten our game 7, or who knows the Pistons might have even closed them out last night.
Contrary to popular opinion, I thought the refs did a pretty good job in a tough, physical series with a ton of complaining that could not haven’t been easy to officiate. But they blew that one and it definitely impacted the series.
The only thing the Pistons can do is improve so that injuries and referees don’t affect the outcome, but they’ll be thinking about these things in the gym this summer.