Daniss Jenkins "always saw the vision." He's bringing it to life for Pistons.

If Daniss Jenkins got a shot, he swore he wouldn't miss. With each make, he and the Pistons are getting harder to doubt.

Shortly after checking into Game 2 against Cleveland, Jenkins cut into the lane from the corner and bounced a pass to Ausar Thompson for two. Then he smothered Donovan Mitchell on the other end, forcing a turnaround three at the end of the shot clock that clanged off the rim and gave the Pistons a chance to run. Jenkins raced ahead of the pack, took a pass from Cade Cunningham and flushed it home.

Then he called for a screen at the top of the arc, froze Evan Mobley with an in-and-out dribble and hit a little floater that pushed the Pistons' lead to 25-14.

By the end of the night, Jenkins had 14 points, six rebounds and four assists, and the Pistons had a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Their undrafted backup point guard who was playing on a two-way contract just a few months ago is one of the NBA's leading scorers off the bench in the playoffs.

"Once I got an opportunity to really play, I knew that my impact was going to be so loud that it was going to be hard to count me out," Jenkins said after Detroit's 107-97 win. "I always knew. It was just a matter of when I got that opportunity. I didn’t know it was going to be this loud, like this soon, but I always saw the vision."

Did the Pistons see it? It started coming into focus at the end of last season, said J.B. Bickerstaff, when Jenkins separated himself in the G-League. Then he reached another level in Summer League, playing "against some guys that were drafted high, lottery pick type guys, and he basically wore their asses out," said Bickerstaff. Jenkins leveled up again in training camp, to the point that Duncan Robinson basically had to ask an assistant coach, who is this guy?

"Day 1 of playing pickup I remember telling Jarrett Jack — I didn’t really know who DJ was because I haven’t really followed college basketball like that since I’ve been out — his poise and demeanor, controlling the pace of a pickup game, that's hard to do," said Robinson, who drilled five threes for the second straight game Thursday night.

The Pistons had a number of guards on the roster, including a recent lottery pick they were still counting on in Jaden Ivey. But Jenkins left little doubt that he belonged: "We had the conversation as a staff, like, how are we not going to play this guy?" Bickerstaff said. It's a good thing they did. Ivey vanished from the vision thanks to a knee injury before the season began, and Jenkins stepped into the void. Then Cunningham missed a few games himself in November and Jenkins caught fire in a starting role.

"When he did get the opportunity, you see how talented he is," said Robinson. "We’ve known behind the scenes he was that good of a player -- he did it all training camp -- but I think early on, when Cade missed those games and DJ was starting, that was pretty low-hanging fruit that, like, alright, this guy’s pretty good."

Jenkins checked back into Game 2 midway through the second quarter. He splashed a three from the corner on a dish from Cunningham. He came off another screen and raced downhill, then slammed on the brakes and hit a pull-up jumper at the key. He grabbed a rebound off a missed three at the other end and went the length of the floor, knifing through Cleveland's defense to finish at the rim. Ohh, he's a blur! said play-by-plan man Michael Grady.

"To be honest with you," Jenkins said, "I don’t really think people can keep up with my pace. My speed, I don’t see many people that can stay in front of me. So it’s about me adjusting to the game, not adjusting to nothing anybody is doing."

The game is different in the playoffs. Jenkins learned that the hard way -- the only way -- in Round 1. He looked a little overwhelmed as the Pistons fell into a 3-1 hole against the Magic, in "about as physical of a series as I’ve ever played in," said Robinson. Jenkins either couldn't find shots or couldn't make them.

But Bickerstaff and the Pistons stuck with him, as they did when he fell into a few slumps this season. The way Bickerstaff sees it, "Young players don’t develop if they don’t feel that belief and trust in them. And if you’re just yanking ‘em, pulling ‘em in and out, they don’t get the opportunities to grow."

"There’s mistakes because of a lack of effort or a lack of attention to detail that you have to have consequences for," said Bickerstaff, "but he didn’t have those mistakes."

The Cavs got going in the third quarter, with Ausar Thompson on the bench due to foul trouble. With the Pistons' lead down to one and the crowd growing nervous, Jenkins drilled a three at the buzzer to put a jolt back into the building. Cunningham, Robinson and Tobias Harris took it from there.

"You can’t simulate the playoffs," Jenkins said. "It’s my first time going through it. I knew I wasn’t going to be scared or nothing like that, I just had to go through it and adjust to the intensity, the atmosphere, the physicality. I think early on, I was just pressing a little bit too much. I just had to relax and play, and once I did that, I knew it was going to be up from there."

The Cavs are supposed to have the more dynamic backcourt in this series. They are supposed to be the better three-point shooting team. Their length down low is supposed to be giving the Pistons fits. On the bench is another paper advantage that hasn't mattered on the floor. The Pistons know exactly how valuable Dennis Schroder can be as a No. 2 point guard and secondary ball handler. He was one of their best players in last year's first-round loss to the Knicks.

Through two games this series, Dennis has 13 points, four rebounds, eight assists, six turnovers and zero steals. The Menace has been Daniss, who has 26 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, two turnovers and four steals.

Cunningham and Jenkins have known each other for a while, having come up the amateur ranks in Dallas at the same time. Their paths to Detroit couldn't have been more different, Cunningham the one-and-done first overall pick from Oklahoma State, Jenkins the zero-star recruit who spent five years in college at four different schools, including a detour to junior college, before going undrafted in 2024.

He signed a two-year deal with the Pistons, looking for a shot.

"Being around him in the NBA now and seeing how hard he works, and just his drive, and how bad he wants it, it’s hard to hold people like him back whenever they want it that bad," Cunningham said. "He’s won us a ton of games this year, he’s played great basketball this season and today was another example of that. Scoring the ball, kicking the ball, he did a lot, and he’s going to continue to do that."

A few months ago, Jankens got the raise he deserved when the Pistons converted his deal to a two-year, $7.8 million contract. He's once again raising his game, and pushing the ceiling higher for the Pistons.

"That’s why I always say, I’m proving something to myself," said Jenkins. "Because it’s one thing to say it, but it’s another thing to act on it and do it, and thrive like you’re seeing."