On one hand, Ausar Thompson wasn't brooding over his performance in Game 4. On the other, "I've never wanted a back-to-back more," he said Wednesday before Game 5.
"Not necessarily to remind anyone (what I can do), but just to do what I do on a daily basis," Thompson said. "That’s what I’m worried about — just helping my team."
Both hands got Thompson in trouble in the Pistons' Game 4 loss to the Cavs that knotted the Eastern Conference semifinals at 2. He committed two turnovers and picked up two fouls in the first five minutes as the Pistons fell into a double-digit hole. And while they ultimately dug their way out of it to take the lead at halftime, it was Thompson's replacement, Caris LeVert, who did most of the shoveling.
Thompson was equally sloppy in the second quarter, with two more turnovers that led to another stint on the bench. Most glaring of all, Thompson was part of the Pistons' problems on defense. Too many players were trying to do too much, J.B. Bickerstaff said after Detroit's 112-103 loss that wasn't even that close. Either by ball-watching or over-helping on the interior, the Pistons left shooters open all night, especially in the second half.
"We were a step behind on that part of it," Bickerstaff said.
Thompson is typically a step ahead. The defensive lapses, he said, were a product of "just not being focused, not playing playoff-level basketball." The result was a 22-0 kill-shot by the Cavs to start the third quarter, and 39 second half points for Donovan Mitchell. Two of Mitchell's best quarters this series have come with Thompson relegated to the bench, due to foul trouble in the third quarter of Game 2 in Detroit and his own poor play in the third quarter of Game 4 in Cleveland.
Mitchell has caught fire, and now the Cavs are cooking. To cool him off, says Thompson, the Pistons have to "be more aggressive, try not to let him get the ball as much."
That might be easier in Game 5 with the series shifting back to Little Caesars Arena, and perhaps in Game 7 if it gets there. Mitchell and the Cavs lobbied for a more favorable whistle after dropping the first two games in Detroit, and they appeared to get it in Cleveland. They were awarded 19 more free throws in the last two games than the first two, with Mitchell making more free throws (13) in Game 4 than the Pistons even attempted.
The suddenly stringent officiating made it difficult, Bickerstaff said, for the Pistons to play to their physical identity on defense. He stated his case after Game 4, in response to prior comments from Mitchell and Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson. And now it's time for his team to move on. The Pistons will play the way they've played all season long, which is by "not worrying about the whistle in general," said Thompson.
Ausar Thompson on “not worrying about the whistle.”
“The refs can’t lose us the game … There’s a lot of things we did on our own to put ourselves in those situations.”
“We gotta be better at not even letting the refs get a chance to bail teams out.” pic.twitter.com/JnXuwgvZfQ
— 97.1 The Ticket: (@971theticketxyt) May 13, 2026
"Just playing our brand of basketball. The refs can’t lose us the game at the end of the day. They can call more fouls, but they can’t lose us the game, so we can’t focus on the refs. There’s a lot of things we did on our own to put ourselves in those situations (in Game 4), so we gotta be better at not even letting the refs get a chance to bail teams out," Thompson said.
Indeed, the refs had little to do with the so-called 'Cav-alanche' that buried the Pistons in Game 4. Cleveland shot one free throw during the 22-0 run that changed the game. The Cavs simply came out of halftime "with more force and tenacity than we did," as Bickerstaff said. "Very aggressive on both ends of the floor, and we just didn't match it."
Thompson said he "was over" Game 4 almost as soon as it ended. He didn't let the anger linger. He re-watched it to learn from his mistakes, but he "wasn’t watching out of emotion, like, ‘Ahh, I did this bad,'" he said. "It was, how can I get better?'" Plus-32 in the playoffs before that, Thompson finished minus-27 in 18:40 of action, one of the worst performances of his career.
He can get better in Game 5 by simply being himself, active, alert and aggressive. The same goes for the Pistons, who remain two wins away from the Eastern Conference Finals, with the ball back in their court.
