Detroit's Defense Just Locked Down the East's Top Seed Without Their Star

The Detroit Pistons clinched the Eastern Conference's top seed Saturday night, and they did it the hard way: without their franchise player. A 116-93 demolition of Philadelphia gave Detroit home-court advantage throughout the entire East playoffs for the first time since the 2006-07 season. Not bad for a team that lost Cade Cunningham to a collapsed lung with a full week still left in the regular season.

The Committee Got to Work

When Cunningham went down, the Pistons could have panicked. Instead, they went 7-2 in nine games without him. Yeah, they lost twice, but both came in overtime, including one heartbreaker to the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Cunningham was carrying a massive offensive load before the injury, averaging 24.5 points and 9.9 assists with top-10 usage in the entire league. That's a lot of firepower to replace.

All-Star center Jalen Duren stepped up big, averaging 23 points and 11 rebounds on 66% shooting since Cunningham went down. Reserve point guard Daniss Jenkins, who'd been struggling midseason, found new life with the extra minutes. He's been putting up 19.3 points and over seven assists, and Saturday he dropped 14 dimes, just one short of his career high.

Gritty Defense Became the Identity

Here's the thing though: the Pistons didn't just replace the offense. They became a different team defensively. Swingman Ausar Thompson laid it out perfectly after the win: "With Cade here we were more relaxed, we knew we had a more of a superstar to get us to wins. But since he's been gone we all gathered around and knew we had to be more gritty, missing such a big piece. We had to make up for less offense on the defensive side."

Thompson should know defense. He leads the NBA in steals per game and has won the Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month award twice this season. Against Philly, the defensive intensity was obvious. The 76ers needed a win just to stay in the sixth seed and away from the play-in. They couldn't get it done. Their scoring dropped every single quarter, finishing with just 12 points in the fourth as Detroit pulled away.

The Pistons have been the league's third-best defense since Cunningham went down, and their 3-point shooting has climbed to 38.8 percent after being a bottom-third team in that category for most of the year. They've also been without defensive stalwart Isaiah Stewart since March 13 with a left calf strain.

When Cunningham Returns

Cunningham will be evaluated in a week as he recovers, and all signs point to him being ready for the Pistons' playoff opener in two weeks. When he gets back, Detroit won't just have the East's top seed. They'll have a team that learned how to win without their best player.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.