NEW YORK — J.B. Bickerstaff’s message to his team heading into a do-or-die Game 5 was simple.
“We’ve overcome a ton of odds, right?” he said before the game. “So why not one more time?”
The Pistons answered his call, grinding through a rugged, physical, often-sloppy Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
Game 5 was a slugfest in a phone booth: eight ties, 14 lead changes, 21 combined missed free throws, 51 personal fouls, neither team able to gain more than 10 points of separation. Once again, the contest was decided in crunch time; this time, though, it was the Pistons that prevailed in the clutch, with Detroit star Cade Cunningham (24 points on 6-for-17 shooting, eight rebounds, eight assists, two steals and a block in 37 minutes) knocking down a pair of free throws with five seconds remaining to stave off elimination.