Tobias Harris chose to return to Pistons, believing he could be part of turnaround

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DETROIT (AP) — Tobias Harris had belief that few had when he chose to come back to play for the Detroit Pistons for a second time, signing with them two years ago when they had the NBA's worst record for a second straight season and set a single-season record for consecutive losses.

Detroit has had a remarkable turnaround and Harris has had a lot to do with it.

“We're not in this position if it isn't for him,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.

The veteran forward, approaching his 34th birthday, has been playing perhaps the best basketball of his career lately.

Harris has scored 20 or more points in six straight games, including a 21-point performance that helped Detroit beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 107-97 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in their second-round series.

“There's no insecurity in who he is,” Bickerstaff said. "When you don’t have those insecurities in the moment, you can play free and you trust the work that you’ve put in.

“He knows his game. There’s so many guys that dribble, dribble, dribble. Tobias knows he can get you in the post. He might back you down. He might face you up, but he’s going to get to the same spot and raise up.”

Harris has helped lift up the Pistons to become one of the league's top teams, winning an Eastern Conference-high 60 games this season and earning a spot in the playoffs last year for the first time since 2019.

“It's amazing, just coming back and being part of the revival of this group,” he said.

Detroit won an NBA-low 14 games two years ago and set a single-season record with 28 straight losses, a season after winning a league-worst 17 games.

And, Harris still chose to return to the Motor City, where he played a decade earlier.

“I didn’t come back to this organization to lose,” he said. “I was making a decision based upon the guys in this locker room and the talent level that was there. It was obviously a huge goal to help this group get to the playoffs and see what can happen.”

Game 3 is Saturday in Cleveland.

“We did what we're supposed to do, protect home court,” Harris said. “We have got to go on the road and bring that same type of effort, same type of intensity and same type of desperation.”

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