One Big Thing the Pistons and Timberwolves Must Do to Force a Game 7

There is a possibility NBA fans everywhere get to hear the best two words in sports this weekend: Game 7. But first, a pair of upset wins are needed in Game 6.

Entering Friday night there are only two playoff series still ongoing in the second round of the postseason—the Cavaliers-Pistons bout in the East and the Timberwolves-Spurs clash in the West. Detroit and Minnesota are both down 3–2 to Cleveland and San Antonio, respectively, after falling short in key Game 5s earlier this week.

The reasons for each team’s deficit are different. The Pistons fumbled away multiple leads in Game 5 in front of their home crowd while Jalen Duren continues to shy away from the spotlight. The Wolves got locked out of the paint by Victor Wembanyama in their own Game 5 loss; paired with their worst shooting night of the series and Minnesota wound up losing by 30.

But every game is a different beast in the playoffs. No matter what happened earlier in the week, only one fact matters for both of those teams: they must pull out a win tonight to force a Game 7 this weekend. And after five games played, it’s clear what they must do to make that happen.

Here’s one big thing the Pistons and Timberwolves each must do in order to live to fight another day and make it to Game 7.

What the Pistons must do to force a Game 7

Play Paul Reed

Detroit’s primary issue against Cleveland isn’t inherently solvable—the Pistons have one guy (Cade Cunningham) who can consistently create and make his own shots, while the Cavaliers have two (Donovan Mitchell and James Harden). Most of what we’ve seen this series is a trickle-down effect from that imbalance. But there is one obvious button Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff can push that he has refused to consider so far: relying heavily on Paul Reed.

The roster’s third center behind Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart, the player known as “BBall Paul” has clearly been the best big man for Detroit this series. His stats are modest because of a limited minutes count but the Pistons have outscored the Cavs by eight in Reed’s minutes once he started playing in Game 4. While Duren continues to intensely struggle in the playoff setting and Stewart’s lack of scoring ability continues to offset his excellent defensive instincts, Reed has attacked the basket in a way few Pistons have this series and can switch well enough defensively that he doesn’t compromise Detroit’s scheme on that end.

PAUL REED DUNKS IT TO TIE THE GAME pic.twitter.com/vnZpdhpLgV
— 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔇𝔢𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔦𝔱 𝔗𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰 📰 (@the_det_times) May 14, 2026

Despite spending the season as a backup averaging 7.8 points in 13.9 minutes per game, Cleveland just has no answer for Reed. But Bickerstaff won’t give him consistent minutes, and that has to change if his team is to make it to Game 7.

Reed didn’t play at all in the first two games of the series. When he was randomly called upon in Game 3, he scored 11 points in 10 minutes without missing a shot from the field. He was even better in Game 4 with 15 points in 14 minutes. Bickerstaff kept going away from him in the clutch, though, to stick with Duren—until Game 5. Reed didn’t play at all in the first three quarters before he was subbed in at the start of the fourth quarter and didn’t step off it until the final whistle blew in overtime.

That kind of decision-making is difficult to understand. If Reed is playing so well Bickerstaff couldn’t justify taking him off the floor for 17 consecutive minutes... why couldn’t he justify playing him at any point in the first three quarters? His explanation after Game 5’s defeat left something to be desired.

“I just thought P-Reed gives us that spark,” Bickerstaff said. “He’s always ready when the moment calls for it. Through that point I thought we had done a pretty good job. They made their run and P-Reed is a run-stopper for us. Having him as a weapon is good for this team.”

Reed is, indeed, a weapon. But Bickerstaff’s team is going to be in trouble if he keeps that weapon in the holster until they’re on the verge of defeat. Reed has to play, early, to give the Pistons a shot in the arm offensively—because there isn’t anybody else who can do that.

What Timberwolves must do to force a Game 7

Bench Rudy Gobert

This is an aggressive move and one coach Chris Finch might not spring for because Gobert was absolutely awesome in the first round. But this isn’t his matchup. It might appear that way on paper given he’s one of the few centers in the league who can physically match up with Wemby. Keeping Gobert glued to his fellow Frenchman for every minute possible hurts Minnesota more than it helps, though.

With Gobert on the floor, Wembanyama doesn’t have to leave the paint defensively. The Timberwolves veteran has never been much of an offensive player; he was great on that end to help lead his team to an upset win over the Nuggets earlier in the playoffs but he’s gone cold since. And even when he’s scoring well, he doesn’t do so further than a few feet from the basket. Which means Wembanyama, with his comically long limbs, is free to just hang out a few feet from the basket on pretty much every possession.

A HISTORIC night for Victor Wembanyama 🙌

Wemby led the Spurs to a huge Game 5 win, becoming the 3rd youngest player to ever post 25+ PTS, 15+ REB, and 5+ AST in a postseason game 👽

SAS (3-2) MIN Game 6 tips off tonight at 9:30pm/et on Prime 🍿pic.twitter.com/0IycqJlSHr
— NBA (@NBA) May 15, 2026

It makes it incredibly hard for Minnesota to attack the basket, which is the key to this roster’s success given a lack of deadly outside shooting outside Anthony Edwards. In their six playoff wins so far the Timberwolves have averaged 57 points in the paint. In their losses? Only 42.8 paint points per game. It’s an even more extreme differential against San Antonio specifically; Minnesota managed only 36.7 paint points per game in three losses versus 52 paint points per game in two wins.

Which begs the question: how can the Wolves open up the paint and get around the Defensive Player of the Year’s dominant rim protection? Gobert is not the answer in any capacity. He is not capable of dragging Wemby out of the restricted area. But Naz Reid can—the key Timberwolves reserve is a deadeye shooter from deep for a center and has hit 46.2% of his three-point tries this series. Finch can also go without a big man at all and use Julius Randle as a small-ball center. Whatever the choice, the goal is to make Wembanyama guard a three-point shooter to make it harder for him to envelope the paint.

Obviously there are trade-offs there defensively. The Wolves have tried going small against Wembanyama but have gotten into foul trouble quickly; it’s very hard to guard the 22-year-old without a whistle when the defender is giving up nearly a foot of height. Reid is a tremendous offensive player who cannot hold his own against a player of Wembanyama’s skill on the other end. And in the non-Wemby regard, San Antonio will be free to attack the paint without Gobert on the court. It’ll require a much tighter perimeter defense than Minnesota has shown so far to make up for that.

Giving Gobert zero minutes would be extreme. But extreme has to be considered when on the verge of elimination. The veteran center played 22 minutes in Game 5’s disaster and his team was outscored by 15 points. That cannot happen again if the Wolves want to survive to fight another day.

Whether by going small or jacking up Reid’s minutes, Finch has several possible answers to the Wembanyama conundrum that has gummed up his offense. He has to lean into those answers heavily in Game 6, or Minnesota will be down for the count.

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