Cavaliers hold off improved Pistons 113-101.

Cavaliers hold off improved Pistons 113-101

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - The Cavaliers (2-0) celebrated the home opener on Friday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse hosting the Detroit Pistons (0-2, 0-1) and former Cavaliers head coach JB Bickerstaff who is now the floor boss for Detroit. The Cavs found out what the rest of the NBA will find out as the year progresses, the Pistons are a better team, but the Cavs came away with a 113-101 win.

The game was back and forth early with the Cavs tying the game at the 9:06 mark and then taking a 12-9 lead with 8:39 left in the opening quarter on a three from Darius Garland. The three by Garland was his second in the first four minutes of the contest. The Pistons responded with a couple of threes by Jaden Ivery and Tim Hardaway, Jr. to give the Pistons a `5-12 lead with 7:37 left in the first quarter. The Cavs then took a timeout. After the Pistons took a 19-15 lead the Cavs responded by scoring the next five points and taking a 20-19 with 5:28 left on the clock when Dean Wade hit the Cavs sixth three-point backet of the first quarter. After Bickerstaff called a timeout, the Cavs scored the next four points, courtesy of Jarrett Allen to give the Cavs a 24-19 lead with 4:18 left in the first. The Pistons responded taking back the lead 27-24 with two consecutive threes by Malik Beasley with 2:48 on the clock. When the dust settled, and the quarter ended the Piston had the edge 29-28. The most glaring stat in the first quarter was the Pistons outrebounding the Cavs 15-7. The problem for Detroit was turnovers as they turned it over eight times while the Cavs only committed three miscues. The Cavs shot 46% (10 of 22) in the first quarter, including six three pointers (6 of 12), but the Pistons were better hitting 57% (12 of 21) from the field in the first 12 minutes. The Pistons Cade Cunningham along with Garland led all scorers with nine points apiece in the opening period.

With 10:51 left in the second quarter the Cavs tied the game 31-31 on a three by Evan Mobley bringing his total to 10 early in the second quarter. The game continued to be a close battle with the Cavs tying the score 35-35 with 8:52 left when Donovan Mitchell slammed the ball home. The Piston responded with another three to take a 38-35 lead. Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson had seen enough and called a timeout. With 7:17 left in the first half the Cavs once again took the lead when Dean Wade hit his third three of the first half to give the Cavs a 40-28 lead. The Cavs extended the lead to 42-38 when Mitchell hit a step back jumper with 6:41 left. The Pistons once again responded, scoring the next five points to take the lead. With 6:04 left when Cade Cunningham hit a jumper and was fouled. He hit the free throw to complete the three-point play giving the Pistons a short lived 43-42 lead. The Cavs regained the lead just 18 seconds later on a jumper by Ty Jerome putting the Cavs in front 44-43. After the Cavs extended the lead to three points Tim Hardaway, Jr. tied it at 46-46 when he hit a long three with 5:00 remaining in the first half. The Cavs took their biggest lead to that point with 3:00 left when Caris LeVert hit a three from the far corner extending the Cavs lead to 47-41. The three was the Cavs ninth of the first half. With :34 left in the first half the Cavs put some space between themselves and Detroit extending their lead to double digits at 63-53 when Allen hit two free throws after being fouled by Jalen Duran. With no time left on the clock Allen hit a layup under to give the Cavs a 65-55 halftime lead. The Cavs finished the first half shooting 53% (24 of 53) from the field including 45% (9 of 20) from three-point range. The Pistons shot 53% (23 of 44) and 62% (8 of 13) from behind the three-point line. Detroit won the battle on the glass and outrebounded the Cavs in the first 24 minutes 17-14, but the Cavs did outrebound the Pistons in the second quarter 7-2. Cunningham led all scorers with 18 first half points. Allen led the Cavs with 12. The Cavs had four players in double figures in the first half, Wade, Mobley, Jerome and Allen. The Pistons turned the ball over 12 times in the first half resulting in 20 Cavs points. Meanwhile the Cavs only turned the ball over four times resulting in eight Pistons points.

The start of the third quarter was not exactly a thing of beauty as there were only nine points scored in the first 2:42 of the period. The Cavs took a 12 point lead with 9:11 left when Mitchell drained a three his first of the contest. The Piston cut the Cavs’ lead to 73-64 with 7:41 left in the third when Mitchell was called for levied with a foul in the paint when he grabbed Tobias Harris. Harris converted both free throws. With 5:32 left in the quarter LeVert slammed home a dunk and hung on the rimmed and was accessed a technical foul. Cunningham shot the technical and pulled the Pistons to with 10 points at 79-69. On the next Pistons possession, the Cavs were accessed another technical on a three second violation and the Pistons cut the Cavs lead to 79-70. Then with 3:45 left after a Cavs turnover Cunningham hit a jumper and cut the Cavs lead to 81-75. The Pistons continued to cut into the Cavs lead and with 2:21 left Atkinson took a timeout as the Pistons had whittled the Cleveland lead to just four points at 83-79. The Cavs got a huge shot from Georges Niang with 1:10 left when he drained a three from the top of the arc to give Cleveland an 86-79 lead. The Pistons then turned the ball over and Mitchell hit a jumper and was fouled. He missed the free throw, and the Cavs led 88-79 with :41 left in the third period. The Cavs extended the lead even further to 92-79 when the third quarter ended. Pistons star Cade Cunningham was accessed a technical foul at the end of the third quarter for a gesture toward an official as the clock ran out. The Cavs continued to be outrebounded by the Pistons 34-28. Meanwhile the Pistons continued to turn the ball over with 19 through three quarters resulting in 30 Cavs points. Cunningham led all scorers with 30 points. Mitchell paced the Cavs with 16. The Cavs now had six players in double figures.

The Pistons continued to hang around. The Cavs could not put them away and they cut the lead to 94-85 with 10:27 left on a three pointer by Simone Fontecchio. With 9:33 left in the contest Niang and Pistons rookie Ron Holland II got a little physical with each other. Niang to =ok exceptions to the rookie and Beasley came to the rookie’s defense. Both Niang and Beasley were accessed technicals. One thing has been apparent through two games and was showing in the fourth quarter, Mobley is definitely becoming a more physical player inside. The Pistons cut the Cavs’ lead to 99-91 when Isaac Okoro fouled Duren with 7:03 left. Duren converted one of two FT’s. Immediately after Wade hit two threes two increased the Cleveland lead to 105-91 with 6:17 left in the game. Bickerstaff immediately called a timeout. With 1:17 left in the contest and the Cavs in command 111-99 the RMFH crowd welcomed Cavs 1st round pick Jaylon Tyson with a round of applause as he entered the game. It was his first regular season appearance at home. When the final buzzer sounded the Cavs secured a 113-101 win to move to 2-0 on the young season.

Cunningham led all scorers in the game with 33 points in the loss for Detroit. Mitchell and Wade led the Cavs in scoring with 19 each. The Cavs finished the game with six players in double figures including Allen who finished with 17 and had 11 boards to record his first double double of the season.

The Cavs ended the game shooting 51% (42 of 82) from the field and 38% (13 of 34) from the behind the three-point line. Meanwhile the Pistons shot 47% (38 of 81) and 41% (13 of 32) from three-point range. The killer for the Pistons was turnovers. If the Pistons can cut down the turnovers as the season continues, they could see a major improvement over last season record wise. But during this game they turned the ball over 22 times resulting in 34 Cavalier points and on the other side the Cavs turned the ball over just 12 times resulting in 25 Piston points.

The Cavs will be in action next on Sunday when they travel to the nation’s capital to take on the Washington Wizards. Game time is 7 pm EST. The Cavs will look to even the all-time series on Sunday as the Wizards lead the all-time 118-117. They also have an edge over the Cavs in Washington all-time 71-47. However, the Cavs are 7-0 against Washington in the last two seasons and eight straight games overall. This will be the first matchup of the 2024-25 season.