and the short-handed Lakers 2 up on Rockets
Pistons looking…just barely adequate tonight. Tied, leading sometimes, not looking like the team that won 60 games.
50 minutes later and the Pistons are up 25 points and look awesome like we hoped for.
Yah, Orlando’s offense tends to complete disappear for stretches. Usually we manage, like in game 1 when we kept letting you back in the game. That 30 to 3 run in the third quarter was a bit much to overcome.
It ended up being 36-6 and even though the Magic closed the gap to 15-17, the Pistons took it easy and held on to the win.
I think the Pistons are the better team by a lot. Hoping they win both in Orlando.
I’m not so sure about that, this is about the first time in the season Orlando has been mostly healthy. They are easily a top four team in the East when healthy, not an eight seed. Frankly I don’t see how you can get far with Tobias Harris as your second option and not a lot of 3 point shooting.
Oh Knicks, you worse than senseless things.
Orlando takes one at home to go up 2-1 on the first seed Pistons.
Pistons blowing it big time. They look like a team who barely made the playoffs.
That would be us. We actually lost the first play in game.
The Timbermutts are looking surprisingly good against Denver and are up 3-1. They lost Edwards and DiVincenzo last night, the latter probably for the year, and still managed to pull off a win between new acquisition Dosunmu’s scoring and a tough defensive effort. Gobert seems to have discovered that if he holds his arms way up he can stop those pesky balls from going into the basket.
A 3-1 lead is commanding, but without Ant (who is out for a few weeks with a bone bruise) and DiVincenzo who is out for the year (and very likely all of next) with a torn Achilles they could very easily give up three in a row to Denver. They still have Gobert to deal with Jokic and they only need one win with two of the three being at home. Tough to pick a favorite here.
A couple months ago Jamal Cain was sitting on the end of Miami’s bench doing nothing, now he is getting prime playing time in the playoffs and doing stuff like this. Orlando goes up 3-1 on the first seed Pistons.
That was a game of runs in the first half. Magic were up 12 early in the first quarter, then down 10 in the 2nd, then up 2 at halftime. In the second half, Magic led the entire half (I believe), but never led by more than 6 or 7.
Pistons had 20 turnovers to Orlando’s 10. Major difference.
Pistons managed to suck it up big time. I’m genueinely surprised.
Not to rub dirt on the wound but the Pistons just don’t look like a properly built team. They have one guy who can score, and several great defenders who are zeros on offense. Jalen Suggs is basically free roaming on defense because he has nothing to worry about from Ausar Thompson. No outside shooting to speak of and a single offensive weapon is not something that works in the playoffs.
Just to give you some hope though there is a single 8 seed who has gone up 3-1 and then lost and that is Orlando and it was against the Pistons.
Pistons win, but to be honest…they still look worse than they did in the regular season. Except Cade, who had 46 points.
Yeah, without Franz Wagner to slow down Cade it was a bit rough out there. Banchero needs to hit his free throws. Next game at home though, and hopefully with Franz back.
I also liked Thompson’s hustle. But the team for sure isn’t playing like a #1 seed (obviously), and not because of any key late-season injury, as is often a factor in such cases.