Did Pistons get hosed with controversial no-call forcing OT vs. Cavs

Story by

Gerard Angelo Samillano, ClutchPoints

Thu, May 14, 2026 at 2:57 AM UTC ·

2 min read

Did Pistons get hosed with controversial no-call forcing OT vs. Cavs appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

Game 5 of the second-round series between the Detroit Pistons and the Cleveland Cavaliers went down to the wire. Both teams went on runs throughout the game, leading to a final possession for the Cavs. Thankfully for the home crowd, guard Ausar Thompson made a crucial stop against Donovan Mitchell to force overtime.

Thompson may have gotten the ball, but he appeared to get tripped up by Jarrett Allen . However, no foul was called on the play in the closing seconds of a tie game.

The Cavaliers were in the penalty during the last possession of the game. Had a foul been called on Allen against Thompson, that would have given the Pistons guard a chance to give his team the lead with less than a second left in the game.

Thompson is a 57.1% free throw shooter in this year’s postseason. So, free throws wouldn’t have necessarily won the game. But Detroit fans certainly wish they had that chance.

Cleveland came out like gangbusters in overtime, defeating Detroit 117-113.

It’s a brutal collapse from Detroit , which led by as much as nine points late in the fourth quarter before squandering the lead. With that loss, the Pistons once again are facing elimination: a familiar sight for the team. They came back from a 3-1 deficit in the first round, winning three straight elimination games to advance to the second round of the postseason.

Game 6 of the series will be played in Cleveland on Friday, May 15. The Pistons have had their struggles in Cleveland, losing their last two games there before the Game 5 disaster. Detroit will need to exorcise their road demons in order to keep their postseason hopes alive.