Pistons on brink, but remain confident: ‘It ain’t over, bro’

The Pistons are running out of room.

Down 3-1 to the Magic, they’re now one loss from joining a list no No. 1 seed wants any part of. namely, only six No. 1 seeds have lost to No. 8 seeds. Detroit could become No. 7.

Game 4 didn’t help the mood.

Turnovers piled up. Shots didn’t fall. And the details, the ones that usually decide playoff games, went the other way. The Pistons lost 94-88 and never quite looked comfortable.

Cade Cunningham has been putting up numbers. He’s averaging nearly 30 a night. But the turnovers are right there with it. Eight in Game 4. That’s tough to overcome.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” Cunningham said, via Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free-Press. “A lot of it was on myself… just not being able to make plays for my team. They killed us on the offensive glass, our defense didn’t hold up. All that stuff. We’re all frustrated.”

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff didn’t put it all on his star.

“They’re sending a lot of bodies to him,” Bickerstaff said. “We’ve gotta help him… give him more space… be a little more physical, get the guys off of him.”

That’s been part of it. Cunningham’s seeing everything. The counters haven’t been there consistently enough.

And then there’s Jalen Duren. His production hasn’t matched the moment. But the confidence? Still there.

“I still think we’re the better team,” Duren said. “It ain’t over, bro… Teams have come back from down 3-1 so many times… We’ve got to keep it one at a time, go protect the crib and keep moving from there.”

That’s the mindset heading back to Detroit. The problem is simple. There’s no margin left.