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  "path": "/the-pistons-had-their-chances",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-14T16:52:34.000Z",
  "site": "https://defector.com",
  "tags": [
    "NBA",
    "2026 NBA Playoffs",
    "basketball",
    "cade cunningham",
    "cleveland cavaliers",
    "Detroit Pistons",
    "nba playoffs"
  ],
  "textContent": "You probably do this, too: When an interesting basketball game is getting down to the end, you look at the scoreboard, you see which team is leading, and you try to figure what score that team can get to that the other cannot. I usually do it right around the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter. Watching Wednesday night's Game 5 between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons, I hit upon my number with 3:57 to go. The Pistons were sitting on 100 points following a Daniss Jenkins and-one layup. Donovan Mitchell was ice-cold; James Harden absolutely could not create space for comfortable shots; Evan Mobley was sort of valiantly hurling himself into turnovers and wild off-balance floaters. The Cavaliers, sloppy and fading, were at 91. It's my own little Elam Ending: _What is the score that only the Pistons can get to_?\n\nCould the Cavaliers make it to 106 points? It had taken them 2,643 seconds to score 91 points. Could they realistically score 15 points in the remaining 237 seconds? No, probably not, not without a miracle. Could the Pistons, meanwhile, pull six measly points out of somewhere between five and 12 possessions? Consider the likelihood of free throws. Consider the likelihood of intentional fouls. Consider that no one on the Cavs had figured out a reliable way of stopping Cade Cunningham from getting wherever he needed to go. My number, with 237 seconds left on the clock in Game 5, and with the home Pistons leading 100–91, was 106. This was not bold, nor is it high-level basketball analysis. It's not meant to be either: It's just a fun way to watch the end of a basketball game, and without pressure to be bold, you can have the satisfaction of never really being wrong.\n\nThe Cavaliers charged pretty well in the closing minutes of regulation, but not before first seeming to boot the game away. Max Strus buried a clutch three, but then the Pistons got an offensive rebound and a pitch out to Tobias Harris in the corner for a comfortable three-pointer, which he buried. The lead was back to nine points, but, more relevant to my formula, the Pistons now had 103 points, with three full minutes to produce just three more points. They can't lose!",
  "title": "The Pistons Had Their Chances"
}