00:00Pistons no-show in game seven. We're talking about it. Good morning, 97.1.
00:06It's one thing to lose. This series had been competitive. It's one thing to lose. It stings to lose on
00:13your home floor.
00:14Stings to lose that way. That's a no-show. And John, all year, the thing we highlighted with this team
00:20was effort and defense.
00:23You want to know why they lost the game last night? You can focus on the cold shooting if you'd
00:27like. It certainly didn't help.
00:28They lost that game because they didn't play with enough effort on defense.
00:33From the jump, Mitchell's getting to the rim. He's forcing two-on-ones. He's facilitating. It was too much matador
00:41defense.
00:42So you start giving them high-percentage looks. You give up offensive rebounds. You let them get to the free
00:48-throw line.
00:48And you don't have anything going the other way in transition. The faucet gets turned off. It's over.
00:55That's the recipe for getting blown out. I could handle much better if this game went to the fourth quarter
01:01competitively
01:02and they made a couple more shots than you. I'm having a hard time knowing this team went out like
01:10that.
01:11Because for as big as Friday night was, this big culture win, on the road, using the bench, all in,
01:17all hustle,
01:18to see none of it in Game 7 on their home floor.
01:22Yeah!
01:23Why they lost the game, to me, it was their defense.
01:26If you're asking to go a little deeper,
01:29I mean, Tobias Harris,
01:310 for 6, didn't make a shot from the field.
01:35Games 5, 6, and 7,
01:36he was a 25% shooter and made one of his 11 threes.
01:41And again, they were picking on him on defense.
01:43Yeah.
01:45You tell me, John, why did they lose that game?
01:47I think they just ran out of gas.
01:48And if you're going to say it's defense, they ran out of gas.
01:52If you could say it's rebounding, they ran out of gas.
01:54If you could say it's, especially at the beginning of the game, missing some of the easy shots.
01:59I remember Dennis Jenkins driving the lane and, you know, had a little floater.
02:02He misses.
02:03Like, there were plenty of options that you could point to.
02:06And I felt like their legs just weren't there.
02:09How does that happen, though?
02:10And I understand Cleveland is in the same boat.
02:13No, they went 7 in their first series.
02:15They're playing the same schedule that the Pistons are.
02:18It just felt like the Pistons last night were playing in mud.
02:22I don't disagree with the fact that if you watched, they didn't have enough juice.
02:27But I have a hard time with that because you're right.
02:29Cleveland played the same number of games.
02:31Cleveland dug deeper.
02:32And they had more to go to.
02:35Well, yeah, but they also play less guys.
02:37And the Pistons publicly talked about, we're a physical team.
02:41We're going to wear you down.
02:43Right?
02:44That was the thought process.
02:45We're a deeper team.
02:46We're the better defense.
02:47We'll wear you down over a seven-game series.
02:49And instead, they're squeezed to a pulp.
02:52That's hard to accept.
02:53I'm not buying the tired-out thing, either.
02:55You had energy Friday night.
02:57You know?
02:58You would think so.
02:58And the teams, Jim's right, played the same amount of games.
03:02Talent won last night, I think.
03:03I mean, Donovan Mitchell played one of his best games in his career.
03:07And it's because he facilitated and was getting others involved early.
03:12I put a little on Cade last night.
03:14A star should play better in that spot, at least early in game.
03:16You could see the dam breaking, though.
03:18Well, let's talk about it.
03:19Early in game, they did a good job pressuring him, getting the ball out of his hand.
03:23The Pistons had to have other people bring the ball up.
03:26Cade was the only Piston in double figures at halftime.
03:29Cleveland had four scorers.
03:31They had Mobley.
03:32They had Allen.
03:32They had Mitchell.
03:34And they had Merrill, all in double figures at halftime.
03:37Let me throw this at you, both you guys.
03:39Cleveland was 5-0 in their last game sevens.
03:43Some of the players were there.
03:45Some haven't been.
03:48I don't think the Pistons' first game seven against Orlando did them any favors last night.
03:52Their first game seven was pretty easy.
03:59And that they won comfortably?
04:01Yes.
04:03And to bring...
04:04False sense of security?
04:05And I think Cleveland, other than Harden, brought their A game last night for game seven.
04:08Are you suggesting false sense of security?
04:11Yes.
04:11As strong as they looked in game six and the previous game seven, that they came in and thought this
04:15was going to be easier than it was.
04:16They went and had two...
04:18Well, they had the comeback, but it turned into a blowout in game six against Orlando.
04:22And then you went down to Cleveland and kind of did the same thing.
04:24And you come back home and you sort of just mentally think a little bit.
04:28You're not quite as prepared for what a game seven usually brings.
04:32And then Cleveland brought their A game team, too.
04:35Look, I didn't turn it off until the start of the fourth quarter.
04:37And the reason was, I didn't trust the Cavs to play that good in the second half.
04:40I didn't.
04:41Well, they were missing free throws.
04:42They were kind of keeping the door open if the Pistons could get anything going.
04:45But Mitchell was brilliant last night.
04:47And I also just even a minor note about him.
04:49He used his fouls.
04:51Yeah.
04:52Something I complain about all the time.
04:53If you have them, use them.
04:55Yeah.
04:55Well, I mean, the one thing I think you look at, and when you say talent, I think you're spot
05:02on.
05:03Donovan Mitchell, getting other players involved.
05:07When you have other players that you can rely on to be involved.
05:11Now, it clearly wasn't James Harden.
05:14Like, he wasn't shooting well last night.
05:15But when he doesn't shoot well, you have a chance that Evan Mobley does.
05:19Jared Allen does.
05:20Obviously, Donovan Mitchell took care of himself.
05:23Sam Merrill did.
05:24Dean Wade, who is a defensive player, was a guy that was somewhat contributing.
05:31Like, that's where you look at the Pistons and you say, okay, well, if Cade is going to try and
05:37get other players involved,
05:38who was he going to try and get involved?
05:39Well, number one is Tobias Harris.
05:41Well, he went 0-4 from the floor.
05:44And then it's Jalen Durant.
05:45And I know Jalen Durant was trying to create more.
05:48It was kind of capitalizing on what he did in game six.
05:50But he wasn't able to get anything going.
05:54Yep.
05:55I mean, look down the roster.
05:56Like, Dennis Jenkins is a starter on this team.
05:58He shot 4-12.
06:00Asar not known to be an offensive player.
06:02Was he 2-7?
06:03No.
06:04Duncan Robinson actually shot fine.
06:05He just wasn't getting enough shots.
06:10Let's get to the phones.
06:11I want to hear from fans today.
06:122-4-8-5-3-9-97-97.
06:15I mean, there's clearly a lot that went wrong in that game.
06:17What stuck out to you?
06:18And we are taking inventory.
06:19Did you make it to the end?
06:21Like, you said enough.
06:23Enough.
06:23Yeah, I gave up at halftime.
06:25I went to the game.
06:26My thought was, game seven, I'll pay for it tomorrow.
06:30But it should be a hell of a game.
06:32Right.
06:32That place is going to be incredible.
06:34And then it wasn't.
06:36And Stoney at halftime goes, get out of here.
06:39Go get some sleep.
06:40He knows this schedule.
06:41And I said, no, no, no.
06:42It's only 17 points.
06:43I'll stick around.
06:44Start of the fourth quarter.
06:46All right, let's get out of here.
06:48They're down 26 going to the fourth quarter.
06:50I'd seen enough.
06:51If you click the game off, you're at home, remote.
06:54When did that happen?
06:55Let's get to Drew in Roseville.
06:56Drew, good morning.
06:58What's going on?
07:00How you doing?
07:03Listen, man.
07:04With everything you guys have been saying this morning,
07:07you guys are spot on.
07:08You can be happy about the season in a hole,
07:11but you've got to be disappointed about that effort last night.
07:14You can't lay a turd on your home court in a game seven.
07:18You just can't do that.
07:20I mean, as much as they played well in game six,
07:25they came out last night and it was a total team loss.
07:28I mean, there was nothing good about last night.
07:32And for JB to come out and say what he did,
07:35I would have rather him come out and said, listen, this game's on me.
07:37I didn't get these guys prepared mentally, physically.
07:40We just didn't.
07:42It was my fault.
07:42This game's on me.
07:43Instead of saying, I can't be disappointed in this crew.
07:46That's BS to me.
07:48Okay?
07:49Because that's the last image the fan base has of this team now,
07:52is last night's game.
07:53Going into next season.
07:54And in this offseason.
07:56So, I mean, obviously we're a work in progress.
07:59We're a little bit ahead of our skis right now,
08:01you know, as far as, you know, winning 14 games two years ago
08:05and then winning whatever we did last year
08:06and then getting the number one seed this year.
08:08But it's trending the right way.
08:10It's trending the right way.
08:11It's just hard to stomach.
08:12Yeah.
08:13Drew, I agree with you.
08:15Yeah.
08:15Like, and as far as JB goes,
08:18a lot was made about this against his former team.
08:20I don't know that he wanted to go to the podium
08:21after his team lost to Cleveland and say,
08:23I lost this one.
08:25It's on me.
08:25I mean, there's already going to be that narrative.
08:27I'm sure the last thing he wanted to do was say,
08:31they were right.
08:34You know?
08:34Yeah.
08:35And he also didn't want to throw guys under the bus
08:36because he feels like he has a decent nucleus.
08:38I just think there's no harm in admitting
08:40what last night was, a disappointment.
08:41Yeah.
08:42And he doesn't want to say the season's a disappointment.
08:45That's his prerogative.
08:46I just feel differently.
08:47I think when you're the one seed,
08:48you should win more than one round.
08:52People can choose to see it differently.
08:53I'm not making the future's bleak or anything.
08:57His description was pretty spot on.
09:01I mean, they did lay a turd.
09:03It was a stinker.
09:04And last night, I wonder how many, you know,
09:07between friends and you're texting your buddies,
09:09like how many poop emojis were said back and forth last night?
09:11Flush.
09:12Flush.
09:13Flush it from your system.
09:14But now the season's over.
09:16And look, this is going to be a fascinating off season.
09:18I don't think we're going to get to all of that today,
09:20but we will be spending a lot of time
09:22talking about the future of this Pistons team.
09:23Because it's pretty clear what this team needs.
09:27248-539-9797.
09:28We got a ton of phone calls.
09:30We're going to get to you guys coming up next.
09:32It's 97.1.
09:33We're going to be right back.
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