What is the story about?
The
Cleveland Cavaliers couldn’t overcome a poor first quarter as they dropped a second winnable game against the Detroit Pistons, and are now down 2-0 in the second round.
The stats in the table below are taken from Cleaning the Glass. As a note, the percentiles are in comparison to other playoff games, which influences the sample size.
Now, let’s dive into the numbers.
- The Pistons went 14-28 (50%) from three. Out of the 91 regular-season and playoff games they’ve played this year, this was just the seventh time they’ve connected on 50% or more of their triples. Duncan Robinson hurt Cleveland most, going 5-9 (55.6%) from beyond the arc.
- The Cavs went 7-32 (21.9%) from three. This was their lowest percentage from distance this postseason. Out of the 91 total games they’ve played, this was their third-lowest mark. It’s a make-or-miss league. The Cavs were on the wrong end of that as both teams had outlier performances, just in different directions.
- Just five of the eight Cavaliers who attempted a three-pointer actually made one. Only two made more than one: Dean Wade (2-4) and Donovan Mitchell (2-9).
- This is the second game in a row James Harden has had more turnovers (four) than made field goals (three). This is the fourth time it’s happened during this playoff run. Turnovers weren’t the main issue in this game. Instead, it was the shooting. Harden went 3-13 from the field in what was an abysmal game.
- Harden had a team-worst plus/minus of -15. The Cavs were simply bad on both ends of the court when he was out there. The Pistons sought out mismatches and relentlessly attacked him on defense. On the other end, he wasn’t able to get his shot to fall, and he also didn’t have success as a playmaker.
- The Cavs attempted just six shots in the restricted area all game (2nd percentile). The most efficient place to score from is getting to the rim. The Cavs weren’t able to get there at all. It’s a miracle they were even in this game, considering how poorly they shot the three-ball and their ability to attack the basket.
- Donovan Mitchell took none of his 24 field-goal attempts at the rim. For context, nearly a quarter of his shots came there during the regular season. Mitchell did, however, go 9-13 on shots in the short midrange. The floater was working against the Pistons.
- Mitchell attempted his most free-throw attempts this postseason at nine. This wasn’t an overall efficient night due to going 2-9 from three. Being able to get to the line helped keep him on track as a scorer.
- Evan Mobley had just one of Cleveland’s 47 rebounds. Being a good rebounder doesn’t always lead to high rebounding numbers. However, there’s no excuse for having only one in a game this close against a physical team.
- The Cavs didn’t have a player with a positive plus/minus. This is odd for how tight a game this was late. I’m not sure if it means anything, but figured I’d point it out.
- Cade Cunningham had 25 points and 10 assists. The Cavs don’t have an answer for Cunningham right now. He’s been the best player on the court, and when he has the three-ball falling like he did tonight (3-6), there’s little anyone can do to stop him.
- The Cavs won the second-chance points battle 22-16. Cleveland had three more second-chance opportunities than Detroit. That’s an area the Cavs needed to clean up after Game 1, and did.
- Cleveland (11) commited less turnovers than Detroit (13). Five of Cleveland’s 11 giveaways came in the first half. They corrected that over the last three quarters and were in a position to steal this one late because of it.
- The Cavs have lost the fourth quarter in six of their nine playoff games. Closing games has been a challenge. Cleveland had a chance to win this one, but was outscored 28-22 in the fourth.
- Cleveland went just 0-11 from three in the final frame. This included three misses from Mitchell and four from Max Strus.
- The Cavs had just six points in the final four minutes. The offense went cold at the worst possible time. The Pistons outscored the Cavs by seven in that stretch.
- The Cavaliers are now 4-13 on the road in the postseason since trading for Mitchell. Two of those wins are against a Miami Heat team that had more losses than wins in the regular season. You simply can’t have a long postseason run if you can’t occasionally steal road games.
