Cade Cunningham did everything but finish the job, and the Detroit Pistons paid for it. He scored 27 points and posted a triple-double, but his eight turnovers helped sink Detroit in a 116-109 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Saturday.

Cunningham had three of those turnovers in the fourth quarter, when Cleveland turned mistakes into points and closed the game with control. Max Strus intercepted an inbounds pass from Cunningham and scored a transition layup with 2:30 remaining, then Jarrett Allen picked off a pass intended for Jalen Duren on the next possession. Cunningham’s following kickout to Tobias Harris sailed out of bounds.

The numbers showed why the loss stung. Detroit committed 16 turnovers, and Cleveland scored 27 points off them. The Pistons attempted 91 shots to the Cavaliers’ 74, outrebounded Cleveland 40-33 and owned a 17-5 edge on the offensive glass. Detroit also had 19 second-chance points to Cleveland’s 11, which made the turnover gap even harder to absorb.

Cunningham said afterward that the giveaways were bad plays that should have led to shots and a chance to win. Bickerstaff was blunter, calling 16 turnovers too many and pointing to the 27 points Cleveland got from them. Detroit was trying to mount another double-digit comeback before the late errors interrupted it, and the loss left the Pistons with the feel of a team that won the possession battle but still gave the night away.

That tension sits alongside Cunningham’s individual form. After Game 3, he led the playoffs with 30.2 points per game, but he also led them with 58 turnovers. Ausar Thompson said nothing shakes the team’s confidence, even after this result. For Detroit, the next step is simple: keep Cunningham’s production and clean up the mistakes, because the margin in this series has already shown how expensive both can be.