Cavs fall to Pistons 108-92
The loss brings the Cavaliers’ preseason record to 0-3.
The Detroit Pistons came out to a strong start knocking down open threes and slashing through the Cleveland Cavaliers’ defense. Midway through the first the Pistons held a 21-11 advantage to the Cavaliers. It appeared the Cavaliers were beaten to the punch for the first time this preseason and didn’t know how to recover from the effort Detroit was putting on them defensively.
The Pistons showed early signs of life on offense and never lost that same drive throughout the game. The Pistons played 14 deep into their rotation and showed their lineup flexibility. Their starters didn’t see the floor after halftime and were led by that previously stated depth. Some of the bright spots were Simone Fontecchio (15 points), Ron Holland (8 points), and Paul Reed (6 points and 7 rebounds).
The Cavaliers less impressively were going back and forth with the Pistons’ second line. The Cavaliers seemed to have hit their groove in the middle of the first reeling back from the ten-point deficit to take a 25-23 lead late in the first quarter. They could never really shake the Pistons though, having a back-and-forth affair for the remainder of the game. The team never seemed to hit that level of offensive groove again.
The Cavaliers had some questionable choices from this game, whether it was only going four deep on their bench before playing all of the reserves (Wade, Niang, Okoro, and Jerome) or playing the starters’ serious minutes (21+ minutes each) through the third quarter. It took until the fourth quarter for Atkinson to clear the bench and add some new faces to the rotation (Tyson, Thor, Porter Jr, and Travers).
It is only preseason, however, this was discouraging as it appears head coach Kenny Atkinson was looking for the team to find a groove though it never did. The defense lapses were frequent, Detroit was shooting the leather off the ball from the perimeter (12-27, 44%) when the starters were pulled.
It felt like the Cavaliers players outside of Jarrett Allen (19 points and 8 rebounds) and Donovan Mitchell (13 points) never really hit their stride. Darius Garland’s defensive effort was great having active hands getting in the way of some passing lanes for fastbreak opportunities. Garland finished the game with 6 steals but struggled otherwise only scoring 9 points. The team as a whole left some serious points at the free throw line shooting 65% (23-35) from the charity stripe.
Other Cavalier performances of note were Ty Jerome (8 points, 2-3 shooting), and Craig Porter Jr (5 points, 2-3 shooting).
Cleveland’s next preseason game is Oct. 18 in Chicago.