The Basketball Gods ™ wouldn’t let the Detroit Pistons lose this one. It’s not that they played a perfect game, but they consistently outplayed the Portland Trail Blazers throughout. But the game was a mess.
Some of that was Detroit’s fault — the offense is still scuffling for long stretches — but most of it was because this might be one of the worst-refereed games I have ever witnessed. If you have a Portland fan in your life, they would probably tell you the same thing. In the end, though, the Basketball Gods ™ spoke, and the Pistons prevailed 122-116.
Now, these biased eyes will tell you the Pistons consistently got the short end of the terrible referee straw. A bunch of infuriating, questionable calls went against the Pistons. None bigger than a crucial fourth-quarter, two-play swing.
With the Pistons up 103-102 with 4:03 to play, Tobias Harris had the ball at the rim and was clearly fouled on the arm by Robert Williams, but the refs called it a block. Deni Avdija quickly brought the ball up the floor, where he found Jerami Grant in the corner. Grant launched a three, hopping forward into an Ausar Thompson contest.
Grant made the three-pointer, the refs called a foul on Ausar, and then reviewed the call and said Thompson impeded Grant’s ability to land and upgraded the foul to a flagrant.
One, I’m not even sure Thompson made contact on the initial shot. Two, I can see the landing zone being straight up and down, but it is ridiculous that you would get to define your landing zone by how far forward you jump on your shot. Grant sank the free throw, the Blazers got the ball back, and Avdija made a 14-foot pull-up jumper.
What should have been a Tobias Harris two-shot foul suddenly became an eight-point swing in favor of the Blazers. Suddenly, the game was 108-103, and for the first time, I felt like the Pistons were destined to lose this one.
Cade Cunningham and Duncan Robinson had other ideas.
Cunningham played a patient, in-control game after a bit of a stinker against the Bucks. He finished with 29 points on 15 shots, sank two of his four three-pointers, had nine assists, three steals, a block, and only one turnover.
With Little Caesars Arena ready to erupt after this huge swing against the home team, Cade got himself to the free-throw line on consecutive possessions to make it a one-point game.
Then, Robinson answered an Avdija circus shot with one of his own, taking a movement three off of a screen with a man in his face and hoisted while off balance. The ball hit nothing but net, as George Blaha, who was honored at halftime for his induction into the Hall of Fame, would say.
The game was tied and the Pistons had new life.
Cunningham subsequently stole the in-bounds pass for a layup to give the Pistons a two-point lead, and Robinson went down after a Pistons stop to sink another three and effectively put the game away.
Duncan’s three-point shooting was much-needed. He hit four of his six threes, and created much-needed space for Detroit’s offense.
Other plays of note included Jalen Duren early, who generated plenty of offense when the Pistons were struggling to navigate the bizarre whistles. Then Isaiah Stewart late, who continues to be a menace at the rim. He blocked four shots and was a team-high plus-1o on the night.
Ron Holland also had a big showing. Miraculously, on a night when 64 fouls were called, Holland only had four. And it’s not for lack of playing his typical hard-nosed defense. He was all over the floor, and constantly found himself in scrums for lose balls, generating steals, jump balls, deflections and pure chaos. He also had his offensive game going tonight. He scored 17 points, hit three three-pointers, and had some critical quick-strike drives to the basket late.
The Blazers were led by Avdija, who played a brilliant game with 34 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists. Jerami Grant scored the quietest 29 points I can remember, as he is wont to do, and Shaedon Sharpe showed brilliant talent and also, in my opinion, played an awful game. He scored 28 points, but was a mess on defense and made several questionable decisions on offense.
As mentioned earlier, this game had 64 fouls on the night. The record this season is 66, but that was a triple-overtime game, per the broadcast. It was an absolute tire fire. Bad calls, late calls, no calls, and a crew that simultaneously dictated all 48 minutes of the game and yet never managed to have control of the game.
The Blazers, I’m sure, are furious, especially at how the last quarter was officiated. Detroit was in the bonus before three minutes had elapsed in the fourth, and Tomani Camara, Sidy Cissoko, and Kris Murray all fouled out. It was an abject disaster of a game.
But at least the right team won.
