Well, I missed the first few minutes of this game because we had to take our puppy to the pet urgent care after she found some chocolate on the floor of the pantry – just to turn right back around as soon as we got there to find out she didn’t eat enough chocolate for it to be toxic. Fun times!
Now, back to basketball.
Cleveland big man Jarrett Allen picked up three quick fouls early and Detroit was able to take advantage. After Cleveland started the game 5-0, Detroit responded with a 30-9 run to take a 30-14
lead late in the first quarter. Javonte Green drilled a buzzer-beating three to give Detroit a 37-21 lead after one.
Donovan Mitchell looked good early as he was the focal point of the Cavs offense. They opened the quarter on a 7-2 run, but James Harden was struggling against Detroit’s defense as the Pistons held a 49-35 lead with five minutes left in the half. Ausar Thompson chased down Keon Ellis in transition with one of the nastiest chase-down blocks I’ve ever seen:
Detroit was up 59-46 at halftime after leading by 18 late in the first quarter. Cleveland turned the ball over 11 times in the half as Detroit’s defense was giving the Cavs issues, particularly for Harden as he was guarded mostly by Cade. Cunningham led the way for the Pistons with 14 points while Tobias added 10 – the two combined to shoot 11-for-13 from the free throw line. Donovan Mitchell had 14, but no other Cavs player was in double-digits.
The Pistons opened the second half with back-to-back threes from Duncan Robinson, but Cleveland was battling back despite more Harden turnovers turning into Detroit points. After being up 16 early in the third, Cleveland cut the Detroit lead to four after a 23-10 run. The momentum looked to be shifting in the Cavs direction until a Ron Holland three at the buzzer ended the third with Detroit up 83-76.
In what should be an incredibly fun series, things got chippy after Dennis Schröder got a technical foul for standing over Robinson. Detroit responded with some incredible play from Jalen Duren. He had a great block at the rim on Thomas Bryant, then snagged an offensive rebound off a missed free throw to find Duncan for an open three. After Robinson followed that up with an and-one layup, both of them let James Harden hear about it – this picture captures it in all its glory:
Cleveland responded with an 11-0 run behind some Harden floaters and flopping free throws to tie the game at 93, but that’s when Cade and Duren took over. Cunningham found JD on three consecutive possessions for dunks, including two pretty drop off passes after Cade collapsed the Cleveland defense. It was too much for Cleveland to come back from and Detroit would go on to win Game 1 111-101.
Cunningham led the way for Detroit with 23 points despite not shooting it well, but five other Pistons were in double-digits to help him out. Tobias “Unc” Harris had another 20-point game along with eight rebounds and continues to wear the #2 scorer’s hat for the Pistons this postseason. Duncan Robinson had 19 points and added five threes while Daniss Jenkins provided some quality backup PG minutes off the bench with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren both had 11 points, but Detroit does not win this game without their effort, rebounding, and defense. Duren added 12 rebounds and four assists while Thompson had eight rebounds and five assists. If you only check the box score, it’s going to severely underscore the impact that Duren had on this game. He had some fantastic contests at the rim and had multiple sequences that helped Detroit maintain the lead – the few that come to mind are the block on Thomas Bryant, the offensive rebound and pass to Duncan for three, and his three consecutive dunks late in the fourth. This was JD’s best game of the postseason.
It was way more of a team performance for Detroit in their first game of Round 2. They were able to force 19 Cleveland turnovers to turn that into 31 points, and I believe them turning their defense into offense was what carried them to beating the Cavs tonight. We’ll see if they can repeat this performance in Game 2 Thursday night on Amazon Prime.
Three more wins to go.
Go Stones.
