Pistons "can't blame the refs" for collapse. They can blame themselves.

The truth came from Ausar Thompson, the man who appeared to be fouled in the last second of regulation and didn't get the call. Sitting serenely at his locker after the Pistons let Game 5 slip through their grasp, Thompson shrugged off a couple questions about the controversy and said, "Can't blame the refs." Instead, the Pistons can blame themselves.

"Giving up that lead and not executing down the stretch is what really hurt," said Cade Cunningham.

Well before Jarrett Allen appeared to trip Thompson, who could've -- should've? -- had two free throws to win the game, the Pistons were up nine with under three minutes to play, at home, against a team that was winless in the playoffs on the road. While the Cavs scored on their next four trips down the floor, two of them extended by offensive rebounds, the Pistons did not score again in regulation, missing their final six shots. Cleveland kept doubling Cunningham, and Detroit kept failing to take advantage of the numbers elsewhere.

"Offense got stagnant," said Paul Reed.

This was the purest distillation of the Pistons' clearest problem, costing them at the worst possible time: too many questions around their best player, not enough answers. And frankly, too many errors in big moments by Cunningham himself, even on a night where he scored 39. Let's rewind the tape.

Tobias Harris splashed in a corner three to make it 103-94 with three minutes to go. That would be his last bucket of the night. Harris has elevated, admirably, for the Pistons in these playoffs, but has crashed back to earth in the past two games, 12-for-36 from the field, 3-for-12 from three. If his legs are tired, that's the cost of relying on a 15-year vet to be your No. 2 scorer on a nightly basis with the season on the line.

James Harden was denied on a drive on the Cavaliers' next possession, but got his own miss and found Donovan Mitchell in the corner. Thompson closed too aggressively on Mitchell, who blew past him, slipped by Cunningham with a windmill dribble and then laid in an easy two when both Jenkins and Paul Reed abandoned the paint to cover the same open shooter on the perimeter -- an over-correction of a problem that troubled the Pistons in Game 4.

On the next possession for Detroit, Cunningham backed down Mitchell, drew a double team in the lane and kicked it outside to Jenkins, who pumped and then bricked an open three. Outside of Cunningham, the Pistons were 5-for-23 from beyond the arc on a night they were without their best three-point shooter, Duncan Robinson.

Mitchell grabbed the rebound of Jenkins' miss and tried to go end to end, but was stripped at the basket on a strong play by Thompson. But when Mitchell regathered the ball as he floated out of bounds, he found Evan Mobley wide open beneath the basket between four Pistons, Cunningham and Harris included. Mobley converted the easy dunk. It was 103-98 with two minutes to play.

Cunningham was doubled again on Detroit's ensuing possession, this time well above the arc with the shot clock winding down. He bounced a pass into the lane to Reed, who was blocked at the rim by Mobley. An eventual shot clock violation gave the ball back to Cleveland.

When the Cavs responded with a pick-and-pop at the top of the arc with Harden and Mobley, both Jenkins and Harris stuck with Harden, leaving Mobley open for a three. Improbable comebacks are guided by improbable events: the 30-percent three-point shooter drilled it to make a two-point game. On the other end, Harris couldn't respond with a three of his own.

With Cleveland trailing by two with less than a minute to go, Harden missed inside but again got his own rebound to extend the possession. The ball worked its way around the arc to Mobley, who drew a reach-in foul on Harris trying to get inside. The 60-percent free throw shooter knocked down both to tie the game.

After all this, the Pistons still had a chance to win the game. Two chances, actually. After Cunningham missed a midrange fadeaway with 35 seconds to go, Harris grabbed the offensive board to secure another shot. The ball got back to Cunningham, who passed out of a possible double-team at the top of the arc to Caris LeVert on the wing. LeVert had the hot hand for the Pistons in Game 4, scoring a season-high 24 points out of nowhere. He had cooled off by Game 5. With the shot clock winding down, LeVert slashed across the lane on Harden and air-balled a fall-away from six feet.

On the heels of a poor performance in Game 4, Thompson was back to his destructive self in Game 5, with four steals and three blocks. He could've capped a night of redemption with a signature moment of his young career. He locked up Mitchell with the game in the balance, stripped him clean as Mitchell was going up for a shot, then gathered the loose ball and turned up court. When Thompson was taken down from behind by Allen, he probably deserved to go to the free throw line with a chance to win the game -- not that it would have been any guarantee, to be clear, for the 57 percent free-throw shooter.

"He fouled Ausar," said J.B. Bickerstaff. "It’s clear. He trips him when he’s going for a loose ball. End-of-game situation, that’s tough."

But referee Tony Brothers deemed that Thompson didn't have possession of the ball when he got tangled up with Allen and was felled by "incidental contact with the legs."

"We can’t look at the refs to get us a win, even if it was a foul or not," Thompson would say. "We could’ve done better to put ourselves in a good position."

Cunningham was largely terrific Wednesday night. He had nine assists to go with his 39 points. He nailed six threes. But he faded when the Pistons needed him most, going 1-for-7 down the stretch and into overtime. If his legs are tired, that's the cost of asking him to carry such a heavy load. On Detroit's first possession of overtime, Cunningham missed a short bank-shot he usually makes, and Reed failed to convert an easy put-back.

But the game really got away from the Pistons a couple minutes later when Cunningham was stripped by Max Strus on the defensive end of the floor after Mitchell had nailed a three, leading to a Mitchell layup that stretched the Cavs' lead to seven midway through overtime.

"I wish I could have that play back," said Cunningham, who also lamented his failure to block out Harden when he missed a free throw that could've given the Pistons the ball down three with about 20 seconds to go. "All those little things hurt."

What stings the most is that the game even got to that point. As Jenkins put it, "We weren't supposed to go to overtime. You got that type of lead, man, in the playoffs, we knew what game this was, how important it was, we can't lose that lead. We gotta be better."

And while the right call at the last second could've saved the Pistons from themselves, they lost this game -- and possibly this season -- in the 2 minutes and 59 seconds that preceded it.