It was a poor overall performance from the Detroit Pistons in Game 4 against the Cavs, especially in the second half. Cleveland's 22-0 start to the second half all but ended the game in the third quarter, leaving the Pistons with serious questions as the series heads back to Detroit. The winner of Wednesday's Game 5 will likely end up advancing to the Conference Finals, so the Pistons have to figure things out quickly.
One of the biggest dilemmas the Pistons are facing involves Ausar Thompson. The star defender only played 19 minutes on Monday, his fewest in the playoffs. The Pistons lost those minutes by 27 points. In fact, in the first 13 minutes that he was on the court in Game 4, the Pistons were a whopping -31.
In those 13 minutes, which correspond to the first three quarters of the game, the Pistons had a 46.2 offensive rating. What makes this shocking is that the Pistons overall had an 111.6 offensive rating in that span. Basically, Detroit was scoring very well except when Thompson was on the floor. The 23-year-old forward had two points on 1/2 shooting, zero assists, and four turnovers in that span.
When the game was already out of hand in the final quarter, and the Pistons made a late comeback attempt, Thompson was able to turn his stat line into a slightly more respectable one. But the overall game was a complete disaster for the talented young forward.
Pistons can't defend without Ausar Thompson, but can't score with him
The problem here is that the Pistons need Thompson defensively. It's not a coincidence that Donovan Mitchell had his best game of the series when Thompson played his fewest minutes. Yes, Mitchell was cooking Thompson early in the third quarter as well, but when the defensive standout went to the bench, Mitchell scored ten points on 4/5 shooting in less than four minutes.
Mitchell had 39 points in only 17 and a half minutes in the second half, constantly getting to the paint and the free-throw line. No Pistons defender was able to stay in front of Mitchell.
Thompson is the only Piston with a chance to slow Mitchell down. But the Pistons can't score when Thompson is on the court.
Along with the Jalen Duren problem, this is the most important thing JB Bickerstaff has to figure out. Is the answer more Ron Holland and Caris LeVert? Is it putting Thompson on James Harden and trying to slow down the Cleveland offense that way? Is it sending more double teams to Mitchell? Or is it trusting what your team has done all season and sticking with the plan?
This is not an easy puzzle to solve, but the Pistons have proven themselves capable of stepping up to the task. Whether that continues in Game 5 remains to be seen.
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