DETROIT – Returning home from a three-game road trip to play the Cleveland Cavaliers would be a tough test for the Detroit Pistons, and it showed early. LeBron James scored 16 first quarter points for the Cavaliers, to route the Pistons 116-88.
The Pistons (11-6) played their last home game eight days ago, and won a hard-fought game at Minnesota on Sunday night. Back-to-back games in the NBA are tough, but head coach Stan Van Gundy did not want to use that as an excuse.
“We’ve been good on back-to-backs this year,” said Van Gundy. “We were 3-0 coming in on back-to-backs, so I’m not blaming it on back-to-back games. To me, it’s as simple as they played extremely well. They shot it extremely well, and we didn’t. That’s what happens.”
James finished the game with 18 points and eight assists, but he only played 27 minutes. That’s because they did not need him to carry the offensive load the entire game. Cleveland (10-7) shot the ball 52.5 percent from the field, and an impressive 48.5 percent from the three-point line. Kevin Love had a game-high 19 points, and Jae Crowder also chipped in 18 points. Former Piston Jose Calderon had 14.
“Their starting lineup outplayed our starting lineup, and then their bench outplayed ours,” said Van Gundy. “Their offense usually suffers when he (James) goes out. It did not tonight. We got caught in some bad matchups. I got to take the blame for that. And then our offense was really bad, and that’s when they opened it up.”
The Pistons did not shoot terribly bad from behind the 3-point line, at 43.3 percent, but they only went 44.2 percent from the field. Tobias Harris was the leading scorer with 11 points, and that was not going to cut it against the Cavs. Stanley Johnson and Reggie Jackson both chipped in 10 points.
“Their offense kind of rattled us on the offensive end,” said Harris. “We didn’t move the basketball like we normally know how to. They switched some things too, which kind of took us out of our game. But even when a good team is making shots like they did, we still have to go out and play our game.”
Defensively, the Pistons did not bring their usual A-game. They gave up 73 points in the first half, and allowed six players to score in double-figures for the Cavaliers. Van Gundy said the blame was on him for not making sure his players were comfortable, and knew what their assignments were supposed to be on defense. Johnson did not see it that way, and did not want to make too much of the 28-point loss.
“I think we had a great game plan, they just had a great shooting night,” he said. “This is just one lost, and there’s not much you can do about that now. We’re a better team than this, and I think we’ve played like it. I’m still smiling.”
The Pistons go back on the road for another nine days, and will not play another game until the Phoenix Suns visit Nov. 29.
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