PHILADELPHIA — Clinching the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a full week remaining in the regular season didn’t seem likely when franchise player Cade Cunningham went down with a lung injury that stands to cost him the rest of the regular season.
But after another blowout victory, a 116-93 romp over the Philadelphia 76ers that gives the Pistons home-court advantage throughout the East playoffs for the first time since the 2006-07 season, they have new life.
Cunningham is expected to be evaluated in a week as he recovers from the collapsed lung, but all indications are he will be ready for the Pistons’ playoff opener in two weeks. The Pistons have gone 7-2 in the nine games without Cunningham, and both losses have come in overtime — one to the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
Cunningham carried a heavy offensive load, averaging 24.5 points and 9.9 assists on usage that ranked top 10 in the NBA. His absence has been divvied up by committee.
All-Star center Jalen Duren has taken more of a central offensive role, averaging 23 points and 11 rebounds on 66% shooting since Cunningham went down. Reserve point guard Daniss Jenkins reemerged from a midseason slump to take advantage of increased playing time, with 19.3 points and over seven assists. Saturday, Jenkins had 14 assists –one short of his career high.
“With Cade here we were more relaxed, we knew we had more of a superstar to get us to wins,” Pistons swingman Ausar Thompson told ESPN Saturday night. “But since he’s been gone we all gathered around and knew we had to be more gritty, missing such a big piece. We had to make up for less offense on the defensive side.”
Thompson, who leads the NBA in steals per game and has won the Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month award twice this season, believes the Pistons needed a bit of a wakeup call, and they’ve recommitted themselves to the defensive end. It showed Saturday against a 76ers team that needed a win to hold onto the sixth seed and stay away from the play-in tournament.
The 76ers’ scoring decreased in every quarter, culminating in a 12-point fourth quarter finish that allowed the Pistons to pull away.
“We’re just slowing the other team down, make them run their stuff late,” Thompson said. “My goal is holding every team under 100. We did that tonight.”
In addition to missing Cunningham, the Pistons have also been without defensive stalwart Isaiah Stewart with a left calf strain since March 13. They’ve been the league’s third-best defense since Cunningham’s injury and their shooting — a seasonlong bugaboo — has elevated since. They’ve shot 38.8 percent from 3-point range after being a bottom third team in that category for most of the year.
“Cade goes out. We didn’t take the backseat mentality,” Pistons forward Tobias Harris said. “I was like, let’s go show everybody we can ball. Let’s go show everybody what our style is made of. We continued to preach it every day. I think the way we play, we’re continuing to take huge strides.”
Harris spent five-plus seasons with the 76ers before signing back with Detroit two years ago and was booed throughout. He responded by leading the Pistons in scoring with 19 points in 26 minutes, and felt the atmosphere was a good test for what the Pistons will face when they’re whole.
“It’s a good opportunity to go out there and play and figure it out,” Harris said. “It gets you ready for the playoffs, high intensity basketball. In any other arena, they boo the other team, not specifically you. For me I look at it as a challenge. Use it as a training, really.”
The Pistons believe this period without Cunningham has made them more diverse, but they will be more than ready for him to return for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.
“Super excited,” Thompson told ESPN. “I miss him throwing me lobs sometimes, that’s my guy. I can’t wait to have him back. The energy is going to stay the same. He’s going to lead us.”
