The Cleveland Cavaliers are ready for their biggest game of the year (so far) against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons. This one begins at 2 PM in Rocket Arena.
Eastern Conference Showdown
Cleveland entered this season as the favorites
to win the Eastern Conference. That has slipped away from them as the months go by, and the Pistons climb further in front as the best team in the East. Detroit is 25-9 and has a six-game lead over the Cavaliers.
We’ll see how long that lasts.
The Cavs have struggled early in this season, that’s no doubt. But they’ve been turning it around as of late and have a better offensive, defensive and net rating than Detroit since Dec. 22nd. And even though the Pistons are first in the East, they still only have the fourth highest odds of winning the conference once the playoffs start. New York, Cleveland and Boston remain ahead of them.
All this being said, there’s a lot on the line in this one. Both Cleveland and Detroit feel like this is an opportunity to make a statement. Let’s see who does it.
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Three-point shooting
It’s not a coincidence that Cleveland has begun turning their season around just as three-point shots have started to fall.
The Cavs rank 22nd in three-point percentage this season. That’s never going to be good enough for a team like the Cavs to compete on a nightly basis. They aren’t built to consistently win games any other way.
Since Dec. 22nd, however, Cleveland is 4th in three-point shooting. That’s more like it. A Cavs team that can bombard teams from downtown is the type of team that can win any given game.
Detroit’s Defense
In typical J.B. Bickerstaff fashion, Detroit has surprised the league by winning its games on the defensive end.
The Pistons are the 2nd-best defense in the NBA, behind only the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder. This team has grit-and-grinded its way to being a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference.
Ron Holland and Ausar Thompson are a dynamic defensive duo on the wing that can make this game difficult for Cleveland’s guards. Keep an eye on how Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell fare in this one, because they may have to find solutions to Detroit’s defense at some point in the playoffs.
