If the report of the Cleveland locker room thinking Detroit isn’t in their class was true, it didn’t land as motivation for the Pistons tonight.
In their final battle with division foe, the Cavaliers would be without Donovan Mitchell, though, it would be Detroit’s first time seeing Harden in a Cavs jersey. Cleveland got out to a quick 9-2 run to start the game, but the Pistons would create their own 9-2 run after a JB Bickerstaff timeout. A late three by Ron Holland (sans undershirt) gave Detroit a 27-25
lead at the end of the first quarter. Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, and Holland all had six points.
Cleveland’s offense looked good – they had an early 8-0 run until Javonte Green hit a three, just to extend that to a 15-5 run until another Green three tried to stop the bleeding. Ausar had a pretty midrange fadeaway over Evan Mobley, but once Mobley and the Cavs had the lead, they never gave it back – Cleveland was up 54-48 at halftime. Duren led the way with nine points while Cade had eight and Ausar had seven.
Cade missed too many shots tonight, but his playmaking fueled Detroit’s offense. Tobias Harris was able to step in for Cunningham offensively during the third as Harris had 17 points in the quarter. He attacked mismatches against the smaller Cleveland guards, but even with his impressive play, the Cavs still held a 89-80 before the final frame. Ausar also added another insane chase down block to his defensive highlight reel.
The defense amped up in the fourth quarter, though, they turned on the switch too late. They forced plenty of Cleveland turnovers and Cade had another block of his own, this time on James Harden. A Jalen Duren dunk with three minutes left made it a one-point game, but the Cavs had an answer each time Detroit made it close. Cleveland would go on to win 113-109. Jaylon Tyson led the way with 21 points while Mobley and Harden both had 18.
That loss snaps Detroit’s six-game winning streak and Cade had too inefficient of a night to help seal the comeback. He shot 4-for-16 from the field for 10 points, though he did add six rebounds and 14 assists. The five turnovers was a little high and he had a costly one late in the clutch when he passed it into the middle of the Cleveland defense.
Jalen Duren and Tobias Harris carried the scoring load for Detroit – Duren had 24 points on only nine shots along with 14 rebounds while Harris had 19 points. Ausar Thompson looked great with 16 points, six rebounds, six assists, and four steals on an efficient 64% from the field. Cleveland is happy to leave Ausar and Ron wide open from the three-point line, but they have to find other ways to attack their defense and Ausar did that well tonight. The coaching staff will have to get creative with them when they’re guarded that way in the playoffs.
JB Bickerstaff was unhappy with the team’s defensive effort and felt they got outworked tonight. It felt that way throughout the game as they were never able to reclaim the lead after they lost it at the beginning of the second quarter.
Detroit will look to bounce back Thursday night in San Antonio against Wemby and the Spurs.
Go Stones.
