Recap: Pistons 106, Cavaliers 101 (Or, Experiments Don’t Always Work the First Time)

LeBron James and Kyrie Irving wowed the Detroit crowd with pure power and smooth finishes as they combined for 38 first half points. The King’s eighth triple-double of the season wasn’t enough for the visiting Cavaliers to come away with a victory. The Pistons played a physical brand of basketball led by young big man, Andre Drummond. His 20 points and 16 boards helped Detroit pull within one game of .500 and remain in the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. Let’s get to it.

1st Quarter:

The Wine and Gold forced a 24 second violation with a solid first defensive possession. It was clear the Cavs had made a concerted effort to properly communicate their defensive switch responsibilities. The versatility of the Cavs’ frontcourt was on display as they easily and seamlessly switched all off-ball screens. Tristan Thompson was very active early on the offensive glass and as a short roll man off Pick and Roll action. It is always pleasant to watch TT assist LeBron James for an easy baseline dunk. Unfortunately, Cleveland still allowed too much dribble penetration. The Pistons missed open looks early to give the illusion of solid on-ball defense. When Iman Shumpert checked in, the problem grew more pronounced as Shump had a hard time preventing straight line drives to the cup. Still, with the Pistons’ missed shots and solid Cavs’ rebounding, a run led by Kyrie Irving and LeBron put Cleveland up early.

There were more clear-outs for Uncle Drew and ‘Bron in the first quarter than we have seen in quite some time. Irving clearly had no respect for his opposition, owning Ish Smith on a variety of moves. When the Pistons did collapse on his drives to the rim, Kyrie found James for a screeching dunk in the paint. LeBron’s exclamation point put the Cavs up 27-12, but his technical for hanging on the rim made the largest lead of the night short lived.

J.R. Smith made his return from injury with 4:15 left in the first quarter. Smith’s defensive talent didn’t accompany him to the scorer’s table as he was constantly a step behind on almost every action. His legs were clearly heavy in his first run in about 11 weeks. It’s to be expected, but it certainly contributed to the Pistons’ comeback. Ish Smith, tired from getting beaten like a drum, enacted some revenge by drilling a three off glass to end the quarter. The shot capped a 10-2 run from Detroit to close the period. After one, 29-22 Cavs.

2nd Quarter:

Deron Williams, Swish, Derrick Williams, Bron, and Channing Frye began the second quarter. Obviously, any lineup with J.R. and the new guys hasn’t had any previous run. That being said, the Cavs ran some good D-Will/D-Will2 screen action off “Horns” with LeBron holding the rock on the right wing. Derrick would screen and dive to the cup, while Deron would pop out to the left-wing three. If the defense pays too much attention to either guy, LeBron will exploit it on this play. Jefferson and Mathew Dellavedova made defenses miserable with the same action in last year’s playoffs. When the defense effectively cuts off the primary dive to the cup and subsequent pop out three, it leaves the opposite left corner three open. LeBron found Smith on the first possession of the second quarter. Though Smith missed the shot, but it was a nice play. Derrick also missed a wide open right corner three off good ball movement. It was good that nary a Piston could stop Kyrie or LeBron going downhill, because Cleveland’s role players were freezing cold from the field.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxegpvWWKgA

Andre Drummond led a steadily physical attack from Detroit. The big man set a multitude of crushing screens, both legal and illegal. Cavalier guards got rather wary of going too near Drummond’s wide stance. It permitted countless easy looks for the Pistons offense from mid-range and beyond. The second half of the quarter featured active hands and energy from Detroit and missed outside shots from Cleveland. The Pistons won the quarter handily and took a 55-52 lead into the locker room.

3rd Quarter:

The Pistons continued their physical play to start the second half. Andre Drummond and Tobias Harris got into a bit of a rhythm for Detroit, while the Cavaliers were gently “coerced” into missing some bunnies on the other end. Things were going well for the home team leading the Cavs by 10 until about halfway through the period. Then Channing Fyre checked in. LeBron and Channing hooked up for three consecutive right wing three balls. On the next possession, LeBron corralled an offensive rebound before dishing to a cutting Jefferson for a monster jam. The defensive intensity and rebounding also picked up for the Wine and Gold. Then this happened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjlh3nBZXz4&t=0m21s

Soon after, LeBron assisted yet another Frye three bomb. All in all, the Cavs finished the second half of the third quarter on a 22-3 run to put them back ahead 80-73.

4th Quarter:

Deron, Kyrie, Swish, Derrick, and TT started a disastrous stretch of play. The experimental lineup was a sad mixture of excessive unselfishness and unbalanced play. Kyrie tried to force feed a shot to Smith that got taken the other way for an easy bucket. A miserable attempt at a four on one fast break ended without any points. When it was all said and done, the Cavs had surrendered the first 13 points of the period. LeBron checked in for Derrick before Deron Williams stopped the bleeding with a left wing three off the dribble. The Cavs offense got back on track with some creativity in the PnR game that led to Tristan Thompson oop dunks, but the Cavs couldn’t get any stops. Andre Drummond had activated beast mode and Reggie Jackson got hot at the wrong time for the Cavalier faithful watching back home.

It was still an entertaining quarter. LeBron continued his dunkathon with his SEVENTH of the evening. Kyrie made a sick spin move into the lane for a filthy and-1 finish of his own. It was all for naught. The Cavaliers missed crucial open three attempts that would have swung the game in their favor. J.R. couldn’t buy a bucket though his second half defense was markedly better than his first half performance. The Pistons were successful in finding Tobias Harris as the short roll man. The Cavs defense didn’t seem interested in checking him at all. On nearly every Pistons possession Reggie Jackson, Harris, or Drummond found a way to punish the Cavaliers’ mistakes. There were plenty. Not even wild banked in three from Mr. Frye could save this one.

Thoughts:

Before anyone gets too worked up about this loss, it should be noted that Tyronn Lue was experimenting with lineups. With Korver out and Smith in, the new look Cavs were even newer. It’s not in the least bit surprising that some of those lineups didn’t yield positive results. And as the old basketball adage goes, “it’s a make or miss league”. If Swish doesn’t go 1-8 from behind the arc, maybe things are different. The lineups should be flexible until the playoffs and beyond. A loss in March isn’t really relevant to the process.

It’s a shame that LeBron’s outside shot abandoned him this this one. The Chosen One missed all six of his threes and continued to struggle from the charity stripe. It was still a fantastic outing. LeBron’s floor game was on full display with rifle passes and energy on the glass. And for the love of dunking, did he get it done in the paint! LeBron’s seven jams and five layups were almost comical to watch at times. The Pistons did everything they could to stop the LeBron’s hulking finishes. It didn’t matter. When LeBron decided to dunk, dunk he did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5tpuwrB2EA

Kyrie Irving was also cold from outside, but his finishes on the post and in the mid-range were beautiful. His touch with either hand from 15 and in is truly astounding. Somehow, Kyrie only got credited with three assists, but since they were of the dunk variety, they left a larger imprint on my imagination. Irving didn’t really do anything to stop the Pistons’ penetration, but he did crash down on the glass on more than one occasion. The lineups led by Kyrie without LeBron got scorched. It makes his minus 7 seem worse than it was.

J.R. Smith’s minus 28 was pretty accurate, though he’ll be fine. Who might not be fine is Derrick Williams. He was minus 20 in this game. Obviously plus/minus can be a silly stat for a single night, but it highlighted an issue for me. Before signing Deron Williams, Derrick was getting the majority of his minutes at guard in the second team lineups featuring LeBron. It’s easier to hide a guard’s weaknesses on the defensive end because they are not the last line of defense. Since Deron joined the Cavs, Derrick has gotten more run at the PF. With the return of J.R., it is likely to continue to go in that direction. Derrick has never been a good weakside big man defender. It will be interesting to see whether the coaching staff can get him back into his comfort zone while incorporating the other guys into the rotation. Until next time.