The Detroit Pistons probably feel that way after their stunning 117-113 overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs on Wednesday night.
The Controversial Play
The play in question came after Pistons wing Ausar Thompson stripped Donovan Mitchell as he attempted a game-winning drive in the closing seconds. As both Thompson and Jarrett Allen went for the ball, Allen seemed to trip Thompson with time remaining on the clock and the game tied at 103. No foul was called. The ball went out of bounds as time expired, sending the game to overtime, where the Cavaliers pulled away for their first road win this postseason to take a 3-2 series lead.
The Pistons were in the bonus at the time of the controversial non-call, and it certainly looked like Thompson should have gone to the line for a chance to win the game.
"He fouled Ausar," Pistons coach JB Bickerstaff said after the game. "It's clear. He trips him when he's going for a loose ball. End of game situation, that's tough."
Official Tony Brothers had a different interpretation of the play, viewing the contact between Thompson and Allen as "incidental."
The play will be reviewed by the league in the Last Two Minute Report. If that report determines that a foul was missed, the Pistons will have a warranted gripe.
But The Loss Wasn't Just About The Call
To pin the loss on a single play feels disingenuous. With 3:03 remaining in the game, Tobias Harris drilled a 3-pointer to give the Pistons a 103-94 lead. The two teams had traded haymakers all night, but that shot felt like it would be a clincher.
The Pistons would defend their home court, take the series lead and position themselves to close out the series on Friday. Instead, those were the last points Detroit's offense, shaky all season, would score in regulation. Their previously stout defense allowed Cleveland to close the gap and tie the game in about two minutes.
The Pistons had every opportunity to win the game before that poor call. They couldn't seal the deal.
Anatomy of a Collapse
It's an oversimplification, but this game hinged on two things: James Harden heroics, and a weakened Pistons offense without Duncan Robinson squandering possessions and missing shots.
Let's start with Harden. Cleveland's late-game offense primarily relied on a single play: the Harden-Evan Mobley pick-and-roll. That's where seven of the nine points they needed for the comeback came from, with the other two being generated by a remarkable Mitchell save on a ball going out of bounds that turned into an easy Mobley dunk.
The first Harden-Mobley pick-and-roll led to Harden getting blocked, but with the first of his three massive offensive rebounds, Harden re-secured possession, passed the ball to Mitchell and immediately screened both Thompson and Cade Cunningham off of him. That freed Mitchell up to split the two of them and lay it in.
Their next pick-and-roll was far simpler. Detroit had put two on the ball for Harden-Mobley pick-and-rolls for much of the night. On several occasions earlier in the game, Harden and Mobley used those doubles to set up easy four-on-three lobs to Allen. On this play, though, the double freed Mobley up for a pick-and-pop 3.
The third of the three big pick-and-rolls resulted in a missed Harden runner. However, his second enormous offensive rebound gave him perhaps the biggest play of the postseason.