In the NBA playoffs, the Pistons beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 107-97 Thursday night. The Pistons lead the best-of-seven series 2-0. After some early struggles in the previous round, Detroit has now won five straight playoff games.
It's been a good week for Detroit basketball, but not such a good week for the Tigers and their pitching staff, which is in tough shape at the moment.
Also, this week, we learned the Pistons and Red Wings will soon have some company at Little Caesars Arena.
For more on those stories and other sports news, Michigan Public commentator John U. Bacon joined Morning Edition host Doug Tribou.
Doug Tribou: Just to remind folks, the Pistons were down 3-1 against Orlando. They won three consecutive win-or-go-home games to win that series. And now they look like a team that's found its groove. What have you seen in games one and two?
John U. Bacon: Well, I think they played probably their worst basketball of the year against Orlando. The first few games of that series, Cade Cunningham had a record number of turnovers in three games. They weren't playing much defense. No one else was scoring. So whatever could go wrong was going wrong.
Now, the last five games, they're playing probably their best basketball of the season. Tobias Harris provided all kinds of scoring to help Cade Cunningham, their one bona fide star. So as you said, Doug, they looked like a team ready to play golf a week ago, and now I think they might be truly competing for a national title.
DT: Well, we'll see what happens in Cleveland. The Cavs have been very tough at home. Game three is Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is at 3:00 p.m.
John, it has not been a good week for the Tigers and their pitching staff. First, there's Tarik Skubal. The back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner had arthroscopic surgery on Wednesday to remove "loose bodies" from his pitching elbow. The Tigers haven't said yet when he'll return, but everyone agrees that's months away.
You hate to see a great pitcher hit with an injury anytime, but there's another layer here for Skubal, for the team, and for the fans. It's his expiring contract. Could you explain some of the dynamics for everyone now that he's hurt?
JUB: No, it's unbelievably complicated. [Laughs] But okay, I can explain some. That's what you asked for, right?
DT: [Laughs] Pick a couple.
JUB: I'll give you a couple. His contract expires at the end of this season. So, going into the season, the Tigers had the very difficult decision. Do you trade him now to get some value on a one-year contract left? Or do you just try to ride it out and try to get to the World Series this year? And it appeared as though they were doing the latter when they got [former Tigers ace] Justin Verlander back and [signed Framber] Valdez and so on.
But now with [Skubal] out, boy, it gets complicated fast. One potential silver lining is because Skubal will not get full value [on a free-agent contract] after this year. Potentially, he's looking for a $500-million contract. If he doesn't — if he's not going to get that — he might come back for another season with Detroit to increase his value to get shipped [to another team later].
Now, I'm not sure if that's glass half-full or just drinking Kool-Aid, but no matter how you slice it, this is not good for Detroit.
DT: And the other tough news for Tigers fans came when Major League Baseball suspended Framber Valdez, the newly acquired pitcher, after he intentionally hit Boston's Trevor Story with a pitch. This week, Valdez is serving a five-game suspension, which really means he'll miss one start, most likely. But before all of this, starters Casey Mize and Justin Verlander were already out with injuries. That leaves Jack Flaherty as the only original starter from this season who's healthy. What else can go wrong at this point?
JUB: Don't say it out loud, Doug, because this has been the most cursed staff I've ever seen, I think. So, can Jack Flaherty pitch five games in a row? I don't know.
DT: He's also not having the greatest season, coincidentally.
JUB: [Laughs] No, he's not. So you might recall, by the way, a few games ago, [Jake] Rogers, the catcher, came in to pitch an inning of relief and actually threw a strikeout with his knuckleball. You might see more catchers pitching.
DT: [Laughs] John, there's a new pro sports team coming to Detroit this week. The PWHL, that's the Professional Women's Hockey League, announced it will be adding a Detroit franchise that will debut this fall. The league began in 2024. Detroit will be its ninth team. No team name announced yet, but we do know they'll play their home games at Little Caesars Arena. How do you like the PWHL's chances of succeeding here in Michigan?
Speaker 2: Extraordinarily good. How about that? Because, look, they call it Hockeytown for a reason. There's a huge base of women hockey programs in the state of Michigan that produce Olympians and great Division 1 players for other schools. Michigan, by the way, is a very weird state in this regard. There are seven Division 1 men's programs in ice hockey and no women's programs. Watch this. Denise Ilitch, perhaps you recognize the name, is not only bringing the team to Detroit. She's also working to get a women's hockey team at the University of Michigan. This could be a golden era for women's hockey in Michigan.
DT: And the race is on to see who makes the playoffs first... the Red Wings or the yet-to-be-named Detroit PWHL team.
Speaker 2: [Laughs] Right now, I'm taking the new team whenever they start.
Editor's note: Some quotes in this article have been lightly edited for length and clarity. You can play the full audio of this interview near the top of this page.
