CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers fought well at times, but the Detroit Pistons were the better team. And the better team won 114-110.
The stats in the table below are from Cleaning the Glass.
Now, let’s
dive into some of the stats.
- The Pistons controlled the possession game, finishing with 16 more field-goal attempts. The Cavs’ ability to get to the free-throw line more often than the Pistons contributed to this, but it doesn’t make up for it entirely. Detroit had 16 shot attempts on second-chance opportunities compared to the Cavs’ six. It’s difficult to beat a good team like Detroit if you’re allowing that many more opportunities to score.
- Despite the rebounding, the Cavs actually won the second-chance points battle 17-14. The Cavaliers made the most of their second-chance opportunities despite not having as many of them as the Pistons did.
- The Pistons outscored the Cavs 21-17 on points off turnovers. Both teams turned it over 17 times. Detroit’s four-point advantage in this category was also the difference in the final score. The margins matter in close games like this.
- All five of the Cavaliers’ starters turned it over twice. And all seven Cavaliers who played 20 or more minutes had at least one giveaway. De’Andre Hunter led the team with three.
- The Cavs had a strong defensive first quarter, only to give up 47 in the second. The Pistons continually got inside, adding 18 paint points on 9-12 shooting.
- Detroit won the second quarter 47-28. Second quarters have been a problem for the Cavs all season. They came into this game with the second-worst net rating in second quarters this season (-12.7). It’s difficult to be the elite team the Cavaliers want to be if they’re consistently this bad in a quarter of the game.
- Daniss Jenkins had 25 points off the bench. He nearly outscored Cleveland’s bench (28) on his own. Twenty-one of those points came in the second quarter on 7-7 shooting.
- Both teams combined for 19 blocks. I don’t remember a game with this many noticeable blocks. Evan Mobley had four of the Cavs’ 10 blocks. Isaiah Stewart had three of the Pistons’ nine.
- Donovan Mitchell passed Tristan Thompson for 14th place on the team’s all-time points list. Mitchell scored 30 on the evening. He’s less than 300 away from World B. Free for 13th.
- The Cavs are now 10-14 when Mitchell scores less than 33 points, including games he doesn’t play. They’re 10-3 when he scores 33 or more. I recite this stat after nearly every game, but I believe it’s worth repeating. The team’s success this season has been heavily tied to Mitchell’s scoring output.
- Cleveland held Detroit to just 50% shooting at the rim (5th percentile). The Pistons went 16-32 in the restricted area. Even though the Cavs lost, this is an encouraging stat from this game. That’s an impressive number for a defense missing Jarrett Allen (illness) and Dean Wade (knee).
- Detroit added 4.8 points per 100 possessions on transition plays off rebounds (86th percentile). The Pistons are one of the best teams at turning stops into easy points on the other end. Their ability to get out and run helped mitigate a bad half-court offense (86.4 half-court offensive rating, 19th percentile).
- Mobley had just four rebounds. Looking at the final rebound total isn’t the best way to determine how well someone rebounded. It’s the job of the center to make sure that his counterpart doesn’t grab any boards. At the same time, you’d like to see Mobley finish with more than just four, considering who was out of the lineup.
