This one wasn’t all that close.
Everything looked bad at the start of the game as Cleveland got out to a 13-5 run. With two quick fouls on Ausar Thompson, Caris LeVert checked in and started playing his best ball of the season. He helped Detroit reclaim the lead and they took a 24-21 lead at the end of the first quarter. It was a good turnaround after Cleveland led by 11 and had zero fouls called on them.
The off-ball defense from Detroit was poor all game as they lost Cavs shooters multiple times
for open catch-and-shoot looks. It was all tied up 38-38 halfway through the quarter until a Tobias Harris three put him in double-digits and gave them a four-point lead a few possessions later. Detroit would take a 56-52 halftime lead.
The Pistons had 10 first half turnovers that let Cleveland stay close while shooting 55% from the field and holding the Cavs to 40%. LeVert, Harris, and Cunningham combined for 43 of Detroit’s 56 points. James Harden had 15 points and Evan Mobley added 11 points.
This game was over as soon as both teams came out of the locker rooms.
Despite shooting 1-for-8 in the first half, Donovan Mitchell came out on fire and never cooled off. Cleveland started the second half with an 8-0 run, all from Mitchell. After JB Bickerstaff called a timeout, the Cavs went on another 8-0 run into another JBB timeout. By the time unsung hero Paul Reed finally put an end to the bleeding, Cleveland went on a 22-0 run.
Bball Paul was the lone bright spot for Detroit in the third quarter. He made all six of his shots for 13 points in the quarter. Mitchell ended up with 21 points in the third, equivalent to the number of points the Pistons scored in the quarter as well.
The final score makes the game look closer than it was. Cleveland was up by 17 with less than three minutes left and a late push by Reed and the third stringers forced the Cavs starters back in late. Detroit would lose 112-103.
This will be a game to forget, and one where the film won’t be pretty. LeVert finished with 24 points, Cade added 19 points, Harris had 16 points, and Reed had 15. Duncan Robinson played 29 minutes to score four points on only two field goal attempts. Ausar Thompson played 12 minutes in the first half and seven minutes in the second while Donovan Mitchell tied an NBA record with 39 second half points.
Jalen Duren was not good. He looked bad from the start of the game and finished with eight points on eight shots while only grabbing two rebounds in 27 minutes. Isaiah Stewart only played seven minutes but grabbed one more rebound. Both bigs were outplayed by third stringer Reed who had 15 points, four rebounds, two assists, and a steal in only 14 minutes.
I dunno, man. We played 11 guys if you don’t include Sasser’s garbage time minutes while Ausar played 19 and Stew played seven. Daniss played 21 minutes and missed all four of his field goal attempts. Leaving Ausar on the bench for six combined points out of Duncan and Daniss is an issue when Mitchell is having an NBA record-tying performance.
It is what it is – it didn’t go well tonight, but the Pistons have homecourt advantage and will look to use that on Wednesday night in Little Caesars Arena. They’ll need to come out with a better performance that tonight if they want to win this series.
Go Stones.
