Tobias Harris "knew what time it was," and delivered for Pistons

He missed his first two shots. Unlike another game he'd rather forget, Tobias Harris wasn't done shooting. He followed his own advice and kept firing, from beyond the arc, along the baseline and everywhere in between, and kept torching the net. Cade Cunningham wasn't winning this series without help. He got the hand he needed from the Pistons' 'Unc.'

"We weren’t coming out of here without a victory today," Harris said after scoring a season-high 30 points in the Pistons' Game 7 win over the Magic.

Harris returned to the Pistons last season to steer them back to the playoffs, and now they're headed to the second round for the first time in 18 years. Detroit's grueling series against the Magic was the latest testament to Cunningham's brilliance. In the words of Harris, "Cade's our guy." But the seven-game grind also answered a crucial concern for the Pistons, at least for now: Who's their other guy?

It quickly became clear that it wasn't going to be All-Star center Jalen Duren, smothered by Orlando's pack-the-paint defense. At that point, it had to be Harris. He seemed to sense it. Harris was the Pistons' third leading scorer (13.3 ppg) this season, but he never put up 20 points in consecutive games. He never attempted 15 field goals in consecutive games. He attempted at least 15 field goals every game this series. He scored at least 20 in each of the last five.

When Harris reunited with the Pistons in the 2024 offseason, he was coming off a career low: two shots and zero points for the 76ers in a three-point, knock-out loss to the Knicks in the first round. He smiled when asked about it on ESPN after Sunday's win and said, "Don't get it twisted. I was coming ready today."

"Listen, I had time to reflect on that. I just knew for us to win, this team needs me to be assertive and aggressive," Harris said. "And all series long, just continued to shoot the basketball. I've put in a tremendous amount of hours and work on my game, I study this game like no other, and I just knew, you gotta go out there and leave it all out there. Yeah, I knew what time it was."

It was tied at 45 late in the first half on Sunday when Harris was open for a three from the wing. He had not had a good series from behind the arc, clang after clank. But Harris always tells his teammates to keep shooting. To trust themselves. Who would he be to pass up a clean look? Cunningham found him, and Harris knocked it down.

Next time down the floor, Harris put the ball on the deck, drove at Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter Jr. and finished an and-1 layup through contact. He followed that up by hitting an off-balance jumper from the baseline against Jalen Suggs, who looked back at him in disbelief when the ball went through the hoop.

"Finding those right opportunities and just vibing with what’s happening out there," Harris said. "I was feelin’ it, and been able to find my rhythm throughout the playoffs."

The Pistons were humming, the crowd was simmering and Harris wasn't done. He grabbed a defensive rebound, triggered a break and got open in the corner -- where shots just weren't falling for him all series. Cunningham found him again, and Harris didn't think twice, rising, firing and all but blowing off the roof of Little Caesars Arena. Just like that, it was 56-47 Pistons, who would lead the rest of the way.

Harris' favorite shot of the four that changed the game?

"The corner 3," he smiled. "It was just a non-conscious shot. Just let it go, let it fly, right in the moment, and the crowd went wild. It’s just instinctual basketball. When you’re in that type of flow as a team, we always say, that’s when we’re at our best basketball, when the opponent doesn’t know what we’re running, what we’re doing. We’re just moving and grooving out there."

As much as he likes to block out the noise, J.B. Bickerstaff hears it. It was loud at certain points this season around Harris, especially at the trade deadline when the Pistons declined to add another big-time scorer to aid Cunningham. To some, the Pistons were overly loyal to an over-the-hill vet. And it still might come back to bite them, with the Cavaliers looming in round two. But when the Magic lost their No. 2 scorer in Franz Wagner for the final three games of this series, Cunningham and Harris took over.

The Pistons would not be advancing without both of them.

"Nobody can say sh*t to me about Tobias Harris," said Bickerstaff. "He is dependable, reliable, prepared for the moment. He’s a leader, he’s a great teammate, he's a great human being, he’s a high-level competitor. To show up tonight and do what he did when it was on the line the most, it’s exceptional. I could come up with more adjectives if you want, but I think you get my drift."

In a series where the Pistons' No. 2 scorer this year was neutralized, Harris stepped up against a big, physical defense and averaged more than 20. He scored 32 more points over the final five games than he had in any other five-game stretch this season. And on a day where Detroit's two most reliable three-point shooters -- Duncan Robinson and Javonte Greene -- combined to go 3-for-15 from deep, Harris banged five of his seven threes.

"He was huge," said Cunningham. "All series, he was just solid. You could rely on him. Just having his professionalism throughout the season, but especially in the playoffs, he’s even raised his level of play, on the court, off the court, his IQ about the game and things that he’s seeing and how we can be better, all that stuff means a lot to us and that’s what he is. He’s a pro’s pro. We’re lucky to have him. He was huge this game, and a huge reason why we won this game the way we did, because he set the tone like that early."

Where the Pistons go from here will hinge largely on Harris' ability to keep scoring. They clearly have a winner in Cunningham, who put up historic numbers while leading the Pistons back from a 3-1 deficit. Do they have a true co-star on offense, or a cast of supporting actors? If Harris leans more toward the former, there's no reason the Pistons can't win the East.

"Using my instincts out there and seeing how they play defense and finding ways to put the ball in the basket for us as a group is what I’ve done my whole career," Harris said. "Just in a great situation and moment now to showcase it."