What Needs To Change for Detroit Pistons to Even Orlando Magic Series

Tonight's second game against the Orlando Magic is another great opportunity to prove to the world exactly what kind of team the Detroit Pistons are.

The Pistons organization has actually been in this exact position before. In 2003, the 50-win Detroit Pistons lost game one to the eighth seed Orlando Magic led by Tracy McGrady. Detroit went on to lose two more games before storming back in a 3-1 come back. Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, and the rest of this Pistons team haven't experienced anything like this before. There an extremely young team with no playoff experience as the favorites.

Detroit needs to shake off the postseason jitters. Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff needs to relay the right messaging to keep his players focused. Finally, the Pistons need to play their brand of Detroit basketball.

The style of play Detroit loved to play all throughout the regular season was taken away against Orlando and it's up the Pistons players themselves to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Dominance in the paint

The Pistons led the NBA in points in the paint this regular season. All season long, they were a team that didn't shoot very well or very often from three-point range, but they were going to play suffocating and tough defense. They were going to bruise opponents in the paint whether it's through Jalen Duren, Tobias Harris, or Isaiah Stewart down low or Cunningham taking a weaker guard to the rack. Bickerstaff's squad also ranked No. 2 in points off turnovers and No. 4 in transition points. Part of Detroit's offensive gameplan was using their defense to generate turnovers and more points.

The Pistons were outscored 54 to 34 inside the paint against Orlando Sunday night. Orlando did this while shooting the same amount of shots inside the paint than Detroit. This is inexcusable considering how Detroit likes to win games.

Detroit can't afford to give up so many points inside the paint because they don't have the volume shooting from deep to balance it out. Their identity resides inside the paint and if Orlando takes that area of the court away in game two, the Pistons could be in trouble.

Rebounding has to be better

Detroit losing by just 11 points Sunday night almost feels like a blessing when you see how much of its identity was ripped away in Game 1.

The 45 to 39 rebound differential favored the Orlando Magic, but that doesn't tell the entire story. Six rebounds doesn't seem like a colossal difference, but it's the context of those rebounds that's alarming. Detroit grabbed just six offensive boards off the glass in game one compared to Orlando's 11. What makes this stat even more alarming is Orlando being the No. 1 team in second chance points allowed during the regular season. If there was ever a team Detroit should assert their rebounding dominance on, it's the Orlando Magic.

Whether it's dominating the boards or being more calculated inside the paint, the Pistons need to revert back to punishing teams. The time to suddenly become a volume three-point shooting team is gone. It's going to be high motors and aggressive physicality that wins Detroit this series.

Capitalize on open threes

Both of these teams are similar in a lot of ways. Both teams didn't shoot very well from beyond the arc, both teams rely on being efficient in half court offense, and both teams have a tendency to crowd the paint on both sides of the ball.

This creates an interesting spacing dilemma. There will be more opportunities to make open threes compared to other series in this postseason. Help defenders are going to crash quicker and harder. Kevin Huerter, Duncan Robinson, Daniss Jenkins, Tobias Harris, and other Pistons shooters cannot afford to shoot 31% from three again. Orlando actually shot 29% from three-point range in game one, but it's not sustainable.

Shooting has been a concern for Detroit all season and fans knew it was going to be something worth paying attention to come playoff time. Detroit doesn't have to move away from what has worked for them all season by shooting 50 threes in game two, but they do have to stay focused and make sure they capitalize on more of the threes they do take, because it can determine whether or not they move on to the second round.

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