Mitch Albom: Pistons prove anything is possible with The Big on menu

Look who comes in from the cold.

Jalen Duren has been carrying the weight of disappointment for so long that he’s actually starting to look like shorterpopping up with all the urgency of an action hero—and just in time. During the do-or-die Game 6 in Cleveland on Friday, May 15, Duren played Superman in the phone booth. Hulk tore Bruce Banner’s clothes.

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He improves for rebounding. Soared for several blocks. He spins – he spins? – and layup. He lost Jarrett Allen on a crossover dribble, drove past James Harden for a layup, and then waggled his tongue like Michael Jordan on the court.

Oh, and by the way, Duren finally caught the ball cleanly and put it on the floor with purpose without a single dribble or fumble going out of bounds.

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In other words, he became his old self again, back to his future, a promising giant who scored 15 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks and 1 steal in just 27 minutes.

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So the Detroit Pistons have to go into Game 7 on Sunday (8 p.m., Prime Video) with more than just a berth in the Eastern Conference Finals. They brought with them an awakened colossus.

“My confidence in myself has never wavered,” the 22-year-old Duren told the media after the Pistons avoided elimination for the fourth time, 115-94. “I know who I am. I will never forget who I am. I know what I can do. I know what I can be.”

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Here are two having fun in paint

Duren’s abilities — rim protector, shot-blocker, return force and finisher — were on full display Friday night. This means that the strength of the Pistons has also been fully demonstrated. There’s a reason why the first five games of this series were decided by 10 points or less and Detroit won this one by 21 points. For much of this series, Detroit seemed to be playing with one of Duren’s arms tied behind his back. The kind that really catches food easily. The one who knew it was attached to a body that was supposed to rule almost anyone.

Durham seemed to be in a fog for much of this series. People speculated that the moment was too big, or that he was overthinking the potential jackpot contract, which became smaller and smaller with each poor performance. The low point came in Game 5, when Duren looked so out of sync that he was benched in both the fourth quarter and overtime.

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Durham, for his part, did what any young person would do when the world seemed to be turning against them.

He talks to his mother.

“She gives me strength. She always gives me strength,” Duren told the outlet. “She’s my rock.”

It also helped that his teammates’ confidence never wavered.

“I kept telling him, especially after that last game, keep your energy and your spirit up,” Dennis Jenkins said, “and God will bless you.”

Well, thank you, Lord. Because by the sixth game of a series, teams usually run out of tricks. But “new” is just a relative term when your old tricks aren’t working. Durham’s Friday night game is like finding your lost sports car keys so you can stop borrowing your spouse’s old car.

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With Duren’s stellar return, Detroit found a strong big man tandem, using the always-steady Paul Reed as Duren’s backup to keep the deficit at bay. Reed had a career playoff-high 17 points, six rebounds and a block in just 16 minutes Friday night.

When you put these two performances together, the middle of the court becomes a dangerous place for opponents. It’s also a potential way for Detroit to capture this seemingly endless war in Game 7.

“[Reed] “He did a great job rebounding … flying around and well out of his zone,” Cade Cunningham said. “He’s very mobile for a big man. So I think that’s a threat to the other big guys. He’s got great hands around the rim. Game feel is great. And, I mean, he’s just crazy. He wants to get the job done every time.”

Pair a lunatic with a starting big man and you had 32 points, 17 rebounds, four blocks and only five missed shots on Friday night.

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With center performance like this, the Pistons are going to win a lot of games.

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A new plot in a long book

Check out who else is back from a cold Friday night.

Duncan Robinson missed Game 5 with back issues, an announcement that came too late to catch everyone outside the Detroit locker room off guard. Without their three-point shooter, the Pistons missed two-thirds of their three-point attempts in Game 5. They also struggled to space the floor, missing Robinson’s passes and destructive defensive bursts.

Robinson came off the bench Friday night, something he had never done in his previous 88 games with the Pistons. no problem. Three minutes into the game and late in the first quarter, he hit a 26-foot three-pointer. He entered the game in the third quarter as the Cavaliers cut into the Pistons’ lead and the Rockets Arena crowd urged them on.

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When Cleveland closed the gap to eight points, Robinson hit a 25-foot shot to push the lead back to 11.

When Cleveland narrowed the gap to 7 points, Robinson hit a 3-pointer to bring the score back to 10 points.

Then he found Reid with a nice pass for a layup. He then grabbed a defensive rebound and found Reid again for a layup, leading by 12 points.

The Cavaliers never really posed a threat again. Then again, the Pistons may have just discovered a new plot thread at the end of the book.

Starting Jenkins — instead of Robinson — gives them speed, decent 3-point shooting (Jenkins was 3-for-7 from beyond the arc in Game 6), and letting others bring the ball up, giving Cunningham some freedom in double teams. It also allows Robinson to be a weapon at different points in the game.

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“He has the ability to come off the bench, spark a spark, make shots and keep our offense in good shape against second-unit guys,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We just thought it was the right thing to do.”

More spins than Cirque du Soleil

It’s also a remarkable display of depth. The Pistons’ bench beat the Cavaliers’ bench 47-19 on Friday. That’s crazy.

Yet while the Cavaliers rely on pretty much the same guys — Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and the three-point daggers of Max Strouse and Sam Merrill — the Pistons keep rotating them day in and day out like the cast of a Cirque du Soleil show. I mean, Marcus Sasser played 18 minutes in the elimination round! Caris LeVert played 29 games! They averaged 12 and 19.2 points per game during the regular season.

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Bickerstaff even used a four-guard lineup at one point. In a game that could have ended the season? This shows confidence.

“We just told each other, “Be prepared, be prepared”“Jenkins said.

They needed to tell each other one more time Sunday night. Only a fool would determine the outcome of Game 7, as the Cavaliers have won three straight heading into Friday, while the Pistons will play their fifth elimination game of this postseason.

But there’s no denying this: The Pistons have proven themselves to be amazingly resilient, not concerned about outside noise, and willing to dance with them. The weather is getting a lot warmer at Little Caesars Arena as Durham and Robinson return from the cold.

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The boss is back

Now let’s see how they handle their most important moments.

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Contact Mitch Albom at malbom@freepress.com. Visit MitchAlbom.com for the latest updates on his philanthropy, books and events. Follow @mitchalbom on x.com.

This article originally appeared in the Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons prove anything is possible with awakening Jalen Duren