When this game started, it was setting up to be a disaster for Ausar Thompson and a masterclass from Cade Cunningham. When the horn finally sounded, with the Detroit Pistons surviving 110-102 over the Portland Trail Blazers, the script had flipped completely. Thompson was a hero late for Detroit, while Cunningham was stuck on the bench with six fouls.
Fouls were the name of this game, for good and for ill. The Trail Blazers shot 43 free throws compared to just 24 for Detroit. The saving grace for the Pistons
was that the Blazers missed 14 of them.
Ausar picked up three quick fouls in the first 3:29 of the first quarter. Cunningham, meanwhile, was dicing the Blazers up. He had 12 points and four assists at halftime, and Portland had no answers for him or anyone else on the Pistons.
Detroit was able to increase its lead to 21 by dominating the paint and generating numerous transition opportunities courtesy of the turnover-prone Blazers. Detroit was plus-26 in the paint (66-40) and plus-26 on fastbreak points (34-8).
Then, with 3:52 remaining in the third quarter and the Pistons in complete control, Cunningham committed an inexplicable and obvious foul on Sidney Cissoko on a reach-around steal attempt, which looked much more like a frustration foul than an actual play for the ball.
The whistle sounded, as it needed to, and suddenly Cunningham had five fouls. By the end of the third quarter, Portland had whittled the lead to 17. Cunningham re-entered the game with 8:50 remaining and an 11-point lead. The Pistons had managed to score just two points in the fourth and needed their star to help them close out the game. Cunningham committed his sixth and final foul on the ensuing possession and earned himself a technical for good measure.
Thompson, meanwhile, had navigated his three early fouls with gusto. He was picking his spots on defense, being aggressive when warranted, and making things happen on the offensive end. He didn’t pick up his fourth until after Cunningham had fouled out of the game.
However, the Pistons’ offense struggled mightily in the fourth quarter, as Portland seized the momentum and hit big shot after big shot, while Detroit was discombobulated and clanging shots off the rim. When Toumani Camara splashed in a three from the top of the key with 4:13 left, Portland took its first lead of the game, 100-99. Detroit had scored four points and looked destined to lose.
Tobias Harris was able to coax himself to the charity stripe and sink two to give the Pistons the lead back. Then Thompson stole the ball near midcourt and coasted in for a quick dunk to pad the lead to three. He skyed to rebound a missed free throw and fed the ball to Jalen Duren for a tough layup in traffic to put the lead at five.
Duren was a monster all night, battling inside against Donovan Clingan and Portland’s wings. He led all scorers with 26 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks, and a steal. After trading buckets and quieting the crowd a bit, a Thompson putback dunk off a Harris miss with 58 seconds left gave Detroit a seven-point lead and sealed the win for the Pistons.
Thompson finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds, three steals, and three assists. Cunningham ended the game with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, six rebounds, and nine assists.
In a game without Ron Holland, who rested a sore knee, Jaden Ivey stepped up too. He played consistently in the first half before seemingly hitting his minutes cap at 18 minutes. The Pistons fly to Sacramento for a game tomorrow against the Kings, which likely means Ivey’s minutes restriction was even tighter than usual.
Ivey was 5-of-8 from the floor, including a couple of nifty reverse-glass layups, a smooth mid-range make, and a corner three.
The Blazers were led by the acrobatics of Shaedon Sharpe. He scored 25 points, but again made questionable decisions with the ball in his hands. He was 1-of-6 from deep, and a few of those attempts didn’t need to happen, and he committed eight turnovers.
Deni Avdija struggled at the line, hitting just nine of his 15(!!!) attempts. He flirted with a triple-double (eight rebounds, nine assists) as Detroit built its entire defensive game plan around making sure someone was in front of Avdija at all times, and it created a lot of open passing lanes to eager teammates. He finished with 18 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
