Behind every Cade Cunningham closing run in this Eastern Conference semifinal there has been a Detroit role player who has not blinked. In Game 1, it was Duncan Robinson and Jaylen Duren. In Game 2, with the Pistons closing out a 107-101 win over Cleveland to take a 2-0 stranglehold, the role-player line ran through young guard Daniss Jenkins — and behind him, the figure he credits for keeping his head right.
Jenkins, the 6-foot-3 rookie guard whose minutes have steadily expanded through the postseason, was asked at the postgame podium how Detroit settled in down the stretch after Cleveland's third-quarter run had given the visitors a brief lead. His answer began with defence and ended with a single name.
"I think first it started with our defense. They were kind of comfortable. They had it going in that third quarter. We knew we had to come out and get some stops," Jenkins said. "And then our closer was a closer."
The closer is Cunningham, who finished with 25 points and 10 assists. But the next question put the spotlight back on Jenkins — specifically, on the player who has helped keep him grounded as the rotation has shrunk. The Pistons' veteran wing, Tobias Harris, has been called the anchor of the team for his playoff experience and steady hand. Jenkins did not push back on the framing.
"Yeah, man. He's really like my guy. All the little things. Just talking to me, because it's not easy playing behind the main guy when you're in that position. So just all the little things to keep my mental right," Jenkins said. "To stay with it and stay poised through all the ups and the downs. And just when I'm out there, stay aggressive. He keeps me on my toes and do the right things."
That dynamic — a veteran wing in a system built around a young point guard, taking time with a young guard whose role is still being defined — has been one of the unspoken stories of Detroit's playoff run. Harris extended his personal hot streak with another 20-point game on Wednesday night. He has now scored 20 or more in six straight playoff games. But more visibly than the points, he has spent stretches of every game next to Jenkins during dead-ball moments, talking him through possessions and reads.
Jenkins was asked, in that vein, how he had learned to be patient through the ups and downs of the postseason — particularly the openings of series, when his role and minutes have not always been settled.
"It's just trusting that the work is going to pay off," Jenkins said.
The larger context for Detroit is that this kind of bench depth is what they did not have in their first-round elimination of Orlando, which required a 3-1 comeback and three near-elimination games to close out. The Pistons rotated through five different lineup combinations in that series searching for an answer. Two games into the conference semifinals, they have largely settled on one — Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, and a young perimeter group built around Jenkins and Duncan Robinson — and that group has now beaten the No. 3 seed by a combined 20 points across two home games.
The series moves to Cleveland on Saturday for Game 3, where the Cavaliers will need to find an answer for the same closing lineup that has now beaten them down the stretch in consecutive games. If the answer Jenkins has provided about Harris is any guide, that closing lineup will be ready — and Jenkins, 23 years old in his first postseason, will not be the one out of position when it matters.
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*Originally published on [NBA News Global](https://nbanews.global/article/daniss-jenkins-tobias-harris-pistons-mentor-cavs-game-2-may-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
