Detroit, MI
Detroit Pistons fans nervous but excited ahead of Game 5
Detroit Pistons fans answer: What’s the score going to be tonight?
With Detroit on the brink of elimination in Game 5 against Orlando, fans take their best guess at the final score.
How are Detroit Pistons fans feeling, with their team — the No. 1 seed in the conference — down 3-1 and facing elimination against the Orlando Magic on their home court Wednesday night?
It’s a touchy subject.
“We don’t want to talk about that,” said Sandy Maizi of West Bloomfield.
His brother-in-law, Dominic Dallo, summed it up with a phrase his son James, 10, coined when he was in preschool: “Ner-cited.” Nervous… but also excited, he explained.
Certainly, it wasn’t the position fans expected to be in by Game 5. To advance, the Pistons must now win three games straight, including at least one in Orlando. But many were still keeping the faith ahead of tip-off.
“We’ll win tonight,” said Brandon VanBeekom of Traverse City. “Just take it one game at a time.”
He and his wife, Randi, took their kids Liam, 8, and Oliver, 11, out of school early Wednesday to drive down to Detroit for the game. The kids thought they were leaving school early for a dentist appointment.
“I figured it out,” Oliver said. His teacher giving him two days’ worth of homework on his way out the door for his “dentist appointment” was a big clue. His parents, both in the car decked in Pistons gear, was the other.
It was the first playoff game for both boys.
It was also the first playoff game for first cousins James Dallo and Noah Maizi.
Their dads also conspired during the school day to bring them to the game, noticing online during the day that tickets were cheaper than some regular-season game seats in the same area. They told their kids as soon as they got home — do your homework, we’re going to the game. They were both pumped. It didn’t bother them a bit the team was down 3-1 in the series.
“I was happy,” Noah said.
“Excited,” James said. “Ready.”
Michael Parks of Grand Rapids brought his 8-year-old grandson Marquell to the game. Marquell said he was excited and ready to see “dunks.”
Parks, on the other hand, was, in a word, “worried.”
His friend Arica Deans, however, said she was feeling “great.”
“We’re going to do this,” she said.
Dearborn residents and friends Tristan Crandall and Christian Alvarado had technical feedback for the team, expecting to see more production from the bench, and more support for Cade Cunningham.
But they both had to admit, they were nervous.
“I’ll always have belief in us, no matter what,” Crandall said.
They both noted they had seen the team through its hardest times, and would continue to be there no matter what.
“We’ve seen the worst,” Alvarado said. “But we always have hope.”
jpignolet@detroitnews.com
Police say one person is dead and another is in custody following a shooting Tuesday evening in Detroit.
At about 6 p.m., officers responded to the 19300 block of Strasburg Street, initially for a double fatal shooting. However, further investigation determined that only one person had died and the other suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Officer Jalon Nelson said the survivor is currently in police custody while recovering in the hospital. It is unclear what led up to the shooting, but Nelson says it was an isolated incident.
The names and ages of both individuals have not been released.
“Our condolences go out to the families of both involved parties. One life lost is one too many in our city,” Nelson said.
Nelson says the investigation is ongoing.
The Detroit Tigers have been talked about heavily with the trade deadline just around the corner, but when they’re discussed, it revolves around back-to-back AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. As of right now, the Tigers have told teams that Skubal is off-limits as Detroit looks to claw back into the standings.
That being said, the Tigers could still find trade packages this season, especially if things go south as they did in May. While Skubal is the biggest name in Detroit’s system to get moved at the trade deadline, one MLB.com analyst believes there could be another player who could be packing his bags.
Could This Tiger Get Traded This Summer?
Since Scott Harris has taken over as President of Baseball Operations for the Tigers, mixed emotions have come from how he handles trades at the deadline. Detroit was one of the best teams in the American League last season and was a buyer at the deadline, but Harris only brought in one player who remains on the MLB roster, resulting in backlash given their standing.
According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, one player that the Tigers could trade this deadline is former first overall pick, first baseman Spencer Torkelson. Torkelson has been an interesting case for Detroit, showcasing power every other season.
Feinsand listed Torkelson as a trade candidate who could get traded this deadline, who needs a change of scenery. While the thought is there, given how many years are left under team control, it doesn’t feel like a move that the front office would do… this season.
“The Tigers have 21-year-old Josue Briceño (MLB Pipeline’s No. 64 overall prospect) working his way toward the Majors, giving Detroit a potential replacement for 2027. If the disappointing Tigers decide to reset at the Trade Deadline, Torkelson could be a risk-reward acquisition for a club seeking a power bat,” Feinsand wrote.
Sure, Torkelson hasn’t been the Miguel Cabrera power replacement some had hoped for, but he has been a key asset to the offense over the last few seasons. When he’s sending the ball out of the ballpark, he’s at his best, and he might be starting to tap into that side of himself again.
If Detroit is telling teams that Skubal, a player on an expiring contract set to hit free agency at season’s end, is off limits, it’s hard to believe that they would find a trade involving Torkelson and banking on Briceño for the future.
Over the last two weeks of action, Torkelson is hitting .250 at the plate with two home runs and five RBIs, but he has 11 hits in total. A.J. Hinch has been wanting Torkelson to find productivity that isn’t just a home run or a walk, and he’s started to live up to the assignment.
Since the Tigers aren’t true sellers at the moment, despite their fourth-place standing at 27-39 ahead of a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins, fans shouldn’t lean too much into the thought of Torkelson getting traded until there’s a true direction for the franchise.
As of June, Detroit has a record of 5-1 this month, with most of its remaining games set to be played at Comerica Park.
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