Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images Ron Holland missed both free throws after a phantom foul call to give Pistons the lead with one second left. After an exciting finish at home against Miami last night, the Detroit Pistons hit the road to take on the Milwaukee Bucks. The Doc Rivers Dysfunction continues as the 3-8 Bucks were looking for their second win of the NBA Cup as well after defeating the Toronto Raptors in their first game. Your fun fact of the day: Doc Rivers has a sub-.500 winning percentage in his time as a head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks since being hired midway through last season. The game started without three rotation players, including two starters, due to injuries: Jaden Ivey, Tim Hardaway Jr, and Simone Fontecchio. JB Bickerstaff was going to be forced to play someone who had yet to see minutes so far this season. The Bucks still don’t have Khris Middleton available and Damian Lillard missed his second consecutive game in concussion protocol. The Pistons looked dominant from the tip behind their two new additions to the starting lineup: Malik Beasley and Ron Holland. Jalen Duren picked up two quick fouls in the first three months, and Stew filled in well as he finished off a 11-6 start for the Pistons with a tip dunk. Detroit pushed that run to a 24-12 lead thanks to a couple of Ron Holland transition layups - between him and Ausar, you basically have guaranteed transition buckets as long as you get them the ball. Point guard @JalenDuren in the building... pic.twitter.com/QqXy4LrJ7b— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) November 14, 2024 Giannis decided to take over as he brought the game back to 24-22. It probably didn’t help that Marcus Sasser and Wendell Moore Jr shared the floor with a Stew/Reed pairing in the frontcourt - the offense was a real struggle. The Pistons held on to a 27-24 lead as Ron Holland led Detroit with seven and Giannis led the Bucks with 22 - that’s right, Giannis had 22 of their 24 first-quarter points. Cade was out there to start the second quarter to right the ship on offense again. They slowly extended their lead behind a quick five from Cade and a few buckets from Malik Beasley - including a few more amazing celebrations from Malik. The Pistons eventually extended the lead to thirteen behind some hot potato offense that resulted in an open three from Tobias Harris. Giannis and Lopez, who had 28 and 10 first-half points, did their best to keep it close, but Detroit took a 60-47 lead into halftime. It was a group effort for the Pistons as Beasley led with 14 points, including four threes, Cade had 12 points and six assists, and Tobias had eight points and five rebounds. Ron's first career start - 9 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL at the half pic.twitter.com/rF1WHCkHJU— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) November 14, 2024 The Pistons put their foot on the gas to start the second half behind some Malik Beasley threes and some grit from Cade Cunningham and Ron Holland, including this sequence that almost made me lose my marbles: this man is fearless. that's that #DetroitBasketball attitude pic.twitter.com/PBcipGKql8— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) November 14, 2024 The Pistons led as much as 70-52 thanks to a Ron Holland dime in transition to find Malik Beasley in the corner - I can’t help but be impressed every time RoHo is on the court lately. The Bucks responded with a 17-7 run with three threes and a Giannis midrange pull-up that forced JB Bickerstaff to call a timeout with a 77-69 lead. The crowd in Milwaukee was getting riled up, especially after Isaiah Stewart was ejected for a flagrant-two foul on Giannis after he pulled him down by his jersey on an attempted standing layup. Without Beef Stew, the Pistons would be missing their Giannis Stopper for the rest of the game. The Bucks rallied behind their newly energized crowd and took their first lead of the game after a Brook Lopez 30-footer. If there’s anything these NBA Cup games are offering, it’s a playoff atmosphere. After last night’s game in Miami, this one was shaping up to be no different. I want the young guys in these situations as much as possible. Heading into the fourth, the Bucks were up 85-84 - it was a 33-14 Bucks run after the Pistons were leading by 18 early in the third. Both teams were exchanging jabs as the game was tied 93-93 with eight minutes left. Tensions were high as Andre Jackson Jr and Cade Cunningham received double technical fouls. A Marcus Sasser jumper (!) tied the game at 104 and a foot-on-the-line long two from Cade reclaimed the lead 106-104. The lead kept changing and a Taurean Prince three put the Bucks up 111-108 with 52 seconds left. A fumbled offensive possession looked like another Cade turnover, but he threw it to Marcus Sasser who hit a miracle three to tie the game at 111 with 27 seconds left. The Bucks drew up a great set to get an open corner three, but the Pistons rebounded the miss with 1.2 seconds left. JB Bickerstaff, like the madman that he is, drew up another lob set to try to win the game, but this time it went to Ron Holland who just barely missed the layup over Giannis. After the refs reviewed the play, they decided there was a foul (there wasn’t) and RoHo went to the line for two free throws with the game tied with a second left. Unfortunately, the rook didn’t hit either and the game went to overtime. Milwaukee went on an 8-0 run to start the overtime period behind back-to-back threes by Lopez and Giannis. The building went nuts as Lopez’ three was from 35-feet and Giannis followed that up with a knockdown pull-up three despite being a 14% three-point shooter. Cade and Giannis exchanged blows, but the Pistons ran out of gas late. Cade and Malik missed consecutive threes and a Giannis dunk with 30 seconds left for his 59th point of the night was the dagger that put the Pistons away 127-120. The Pistons gave up 16 points in overtime. It was a night where Giannis carried the load for Dame’s absence (and then some) as he went for 59 points on 34 shots, going 16/17 from the line. The entire Pistons team only attempted 13 free throws. You could also call it a night where the Pistons blew an 18-point lead prior to Isaiah Stewart getting ejected - as someone who should know how crucial he is to this team as the Giannis Stopper, he can’t be making unnecessary plays like that because this is what it leads to. Cade finished with an inefficient 35 points on 34 shots, though he did shoot 5-for-10 from deep. Malik scored 26 points and was a flamethrower from beyond the arc with eight threes. Tobias struggled in the second half and went 4/15 from the field. Marcus Sasser was -14 and Wendell Moore Jr was -17, so let’s hope tonight’s injured players just needed a quick rest on a back-to-back. The Pistons take on the Raptors in Toronto on Friday night.