00:00Yeah, that made it a two-possession game
00:02after the Pistons overcame.
00:04It was a 15-17 point deficit.
00:06Cade was on fire, and it's all for naught
00:09because Pistons have been outplayed,
00:11and now they're down 2-1.
00:13Play in Orlando tonight.
00:17Series isn't over.
00:19Of course it's not over.
00:20You're going to fight to the bitter end,
00:22but you can't feel good about their prospects
00:25because all the problems have been on full display,
00:28and a texter will point that out.
00:30It says, guys, they're not in sync.
00:33If they can get in sync, they could win this series.
00:35If not, this thing's toast.
00:37That's from Cooper.
00:40Defend and take care of the basketball.
00:42Limit second chances.
00:43It's the only way through.
00:45Shooting is not going to appear out of thin air.
00:49Tonight feels like a culture game.
00:51It's going to show what they're really built for.
00:53We've labeled a few Lions teams and games as culture games.
00:57You have to find a way.
00:59We'll see what the Pistons culture is all about tonight at 8.
01:02How about this text for a history lesson?
01:06I remember a 3-1 deficit that the Pistons came back from in 2003.
01:12Vividly remember benching Michael Curry for Tayshaun Prince
01:16who locked up TMAC and finally gave us some scoring at the 3.
01:20We weren't playing 3-on-5 offense, Curry and Wallace,
01:24like we're currently doing now.
01:26Well, who's the Tayshaun?
01:28Right.
01:29I think that's the question.
01:31Or when is that moment?
01:33Right.
01:36Cookies and Jansen, if I told you before the series
01:39that would be tied coming home from Orlando to play
01:44Game 5 in Detroit, everybody would take it.
01:46It doesn't matter as long as you win this next one, Rob, in the office.
01:49I somewhat agree with that, but a lot of it has to go to the context
01:54of how you've gotten to this point.
01:57Game 1 was one of the worst games that we've seen the Pistons play.
02:01Now, Saturday wasn't that, but they were outplayed by Orlando.
02:07And it was just like the conversation I was trying to have last week.
02:11They were 1-1 going down to Orlando.
02:14And whether they lost the first one, won the first one,
02:18it did matter because of how it made you feel.
02:22So if they are coming home 2-2, certainly having two of the next three
02:27at home is a benefit.
02:30Yeah, of course.
02:31And it makes you feel good about it.
02:32It's what you get when you earn the one seed.
02:34But tonight is a must win.
02:39And I'm not going to sit here and say, well, they have to win a certain way.
02:42I don't care how they win.
02:44Just win the damn game.
02:46So you can come home 2-2.
02:48Dropping Game 1 was bad.
02:49But neither of us panicked and said they're going to lose the series.
02:53It was like, geez, that was bad.
02:55And then Game 3, though, you start to get things confirmed.
02:58And now you start to think.
02:59Like Game 3 would all but put the nail in the coffin.
03:02That text has said, you're down 2-1.
03:04All you got to do is even it.
03:05Come home and best of three.
03:07I mean, that's almost a cliche in sports.
03:10Like, usually in a series.
03:12Yeah, I've seen that happen many times.
03:14I think it was the 89 Pistons fell down 2-1 of the Bulls in the second round.
03:17Nobody remembers that because they went on a tear after that and won a championship.
03:21But I think the issue is the hows.
03:22Yeah.
03:22How are you going to do it?
03:24What's their option to change the series?
03:26That's why I said, point out, you need to strangle them defensively and make them very uncomfortable.
03:33And I even proposed earlier in the show maybe some sort of physical altercation to get under their skin.
03:40You need to approach this from a mental standpoint as much as a game plan.
03:45Because their game plan options aren't there.
03:46Somebody brought up Tayshaun.
03:47You don't have a Tayshaun to go to.
03:48What's Ron Holland all going to?
03:50You just go, hey, go out there and let it loose.
03:53So there's a real line, though.
03:55Like, if you go out and start playing and pushing that line and throwing haymakers and getting guys suspended,
04:04I'm going to say you lost your cool and your season's done.
04:07So congrats.
04:09I mean, there's a real fine line in that.
04:11See, the Pistons are this type of team.
04:14And, you know, trying to stir the pot a little bit, that fine line of maybe you don't get suspended.
04:20Or, you know, maybe somebody does that's not a super huge player on the team.
04:26I think it's to change the mentality in the series.
04:28It's to try to change the momentum.
04:30But it's psychological warfare is what I'm proposing.
04:34Right.
04:34And so basically what you're saying is the Pistons has got to be the bully in the series.
04:38Yeah.
04:38And I don't think it requires somebody to go to the level of being suspended.
04:43But you've got to be able to walk up to that line and have those, whether it's a push in
04:48and shove in after.
04:49It's whatever it is.
04:50It's something to send the message that we're going to physically take control of this series.
05:00The Pistons are who many of us have been telling you they are.
05:03A decent regular season team with a mid-tier star, not a superstar.
05:08Maybe that sports guy from New York was right.
05:11Remember you when whining about the odds for the Pistons?
05:14Maybe that guy in New York was right.
05:20That would hurt to play.
05:23You guys have little faith, boys.
05:25The team's built for the trenches.
05:26They'll win game four.
05:27Get back home.
05:28Spirit of Detroit will carry them to the next round.
05:30How many points is the Spirit of Detroit good for?
05:34Get some O-boards and a couple knockdown threes.
05:36That's like when people thought the Lions were going to make the playoffs because they quote-unquote had grit.
05:42Right.
05:42Like, I'm cool with saying 2-1 is far from over.
05:45A game four win and everything's evened up.
05:47Like, math exists.
05:49There are more games.
05:50The how is what's killing me.
05:52How are the Pistons going to do it?
05:53Because on offense, it's K dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble.
05:57Everybody's got to get to the paint.
05:58Magic hold up their hands and say you're not getting in the paint.
06:01And it's rinse and repeat.
06:02It's painful to watch.
06:04The only cut through is you run in transition.
06:07They've been a great fast break team.
06:08It's how you get easy buckets.
06:09It's part of what they did in that 30-3 run in game two.
06:12But that feels like the outlier.
06:14That that level of superhuman defense isn't sustainable for more than an eight-man.
06:19Certainly not for game over game over game over game.
06:23When the Magic have home court, good shooters, and multiple options they can throw at you on offense.
06:29You could stifle them for spurts.
06:31But the idea that Paolo and Bain and Wagner, who missed 50 games, they have options if one guy's cold
06:38or if one guy's flustered or one guy gets in foul trouble.
06:41They've been the better team.
06:43How do the Pistons come back down 2-1?
06:46Not can they.
06:47Of course they can.
06:48Of course it's do-to-do.
06:50You win tonight and then you come home and you win your home game in game number five.
06:53And then you've got two to win one in game seven if necessary.
06:55I get how series work.
06:57How do they play basketball for long enough stretches repeatedly to win the series?
07:03That's the question.
07:04Right.
07:04Can they put back-to-back performances that we saw in game two in games four and five?
07:11Like they have to win consecutive games to win the series now, right?
07:15Yes.
07:15At some point.
07:16Yeah.
07:17Yeah.
07:17They can't just go every other two, four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97.
07:25Duren is playing like Angel Reese and Cade has no help.
07:29It won't die, John.
07:31Too many me bounds.
07:36This team reminds me of the O2 Stackhouse Pistons teams.
07:39One guy with no help around him.
07:40The defense has to be elite, but someone else has to hit shots to help Cade.
07:43That's from Brian.
07:45Cade has to be better, but he has no space.
07:47Orlando has switchable defenders and make him work.
07:50We need better spacing.
07:51Tough convos this summer.
07:54Valeni and every other analyst was right.
07:56This team is just not a good one seed.
07:58Hell, they're not even a good four seed.
08:00Orlando's going to take the next two, and that'll be all she wrote.
08:03They're a completely different team than they were in the regular season, and JB is not a
08:06playoff coach either.
08:07Sorry if the truth hurts.
08:09I don't know if they're a completely different team, but I think other teams.
08:14The teams have risen their level, and the Pistons were playing at maximum octane level, and
08:21now they don't have another gear to get to.
08:22That's the key.
08:23They're the same team as the regular season, not a different team.
08:26That's the problem.
08:27They're the same team as the regular season, and those things aren't good enough come
08:31playoff time.
08:32But if that plays out to truth, and they go out in five or six, I heard Mark Ryan say
08:39it this weekend.
08:40What does it say about the state of this sport if the majority of the teams are flipping a
08:45switch?
08:46Right.
08:47When they get to the postseason.
08:48We already know that with the load management and stuff, it is a long season, and taking some
08:54nights off, I think, is human nature.
08:56But to that excessive of a level?
08:59Well, but let's call this more honestly, then.
09:02Let's say the Pistons got to 60 wins in part because they're a try-hard team that plays
09:06hard every night.
09:07What would they actually be if you were adjusting for inflation type of thing?
09:12Would you say they're like a low 50s?
09:14And then if I told you Franz Wagner didn't miss 50 games, is Orlando more of a 6 seed,
09:20a 5 seed?
09:21Suddenly, this doesn't feel that shocking when you break it down that way, right?
09:25No, but the fact that we're even having this discussion, though, is kind of pathetic.
09:32I agree.
09:34I agree.
09:34The fact that we have a 60-win-1 seed, that we have to lower them and make excuses and
09:40say this isn't a typical 8 seed.
09:41It shouldn't matter.
09:42It doesn't matter, but it clearly does matter.
09:44Right.
09:4560-win team for what?
09:46The third time in franchise history?
09:48Yeah.
09:49Only three teams did it all year in the NBA.
09:51Right.
09:51The other two are just fine.
09:52Up 3-0 and 3-1.
09:56Is there a flaw?
09:57Is there now?
09:58Does the 40-20 rule no longer play a factor?
10:01It wasn't always gospel, and I think one of them will likely still win it.
10:05Either the Spurs or the Thunder.
10:07We got calls to get to.
10:09Actually, let's get the call now.
10:11Let's get to Bernard in Detroit.
10:11Bernard, you're on 97-1.
10:13What's going on, guys?
10:15What's up?
10:16The problem is, here's the problem.
10:18All coaches do the same thing.
10:20Come playoff time, they shrink their rotation.
10:24Our strength is the bench.
10:26We got a better bench than anybody.
10:27We're deep in any other team, except for San Antonio and OKC.
10:32But if you're not giving the bench players a chance to perform, it's going to shrink your number, your overall
10:38numbers.
10:39You're not going to score as much, and that's the problem.
10:42You know, you're giving Levert six minutes.
10:45You're giving Green five minutes.
10:47You're not playing Holland.
10:49You're not playing B-ball.
10:52And he played well, but you're right.
10:55All those guys contributed to winning.
10:58Now you're taking them out of the lineup, and you're expecting the same flow.
11:02It's just not going to happen.
11:03Stewart ain't doing nothing out there.
11:05But during the regular season, Jenkins might have 16.
11:09I think some of that is what people say is why it's a different animal, right?
11:13As in the regular season, you're rewarded.
11:15You win more games because of your depth.
11:18In the playoffs, teams shorten this thing down to where it is only seven or eight guys.
11:23And if the Pistons don't have a good enough seven or eight, that's part of how you lose in the
11:28postseason.
11:30Overreact Jim's next, 97.1.
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