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After two huge OT wins over Boston and a win over the Knicks over a five day period the Cavs hit the road to take on the Pistons, who have lost 7 of their last 8. So taking out each team's first game of the season, the Cavs are 6-0 while the Pistons are 1-7. The Pistons lost to the Knicks by 24, the Wizards by 21, the Hawks by 24, and Milwaukee by 17.
They've had their moments, though, including a win by 14 over Golden State and a 2-point loss to undefeated Milwaukee.
This feels like a trap game where the Cavs could come in complacent and ripe for an upset. Especially since all three of their point guards (Garland, Mitchell, and Neto) are listed as questionable. This is the first of three games in four days so the Cavs will be very challenged on the road this weekend.
Detroit is not a good offensive team, ranking 25th in points per game. They're 27th in points in the paint and 20th in points on 3's. They have five players averaging 13-22 points per game, so the scoring is pretty balanced. After those five they don't have much, however, with the next highest at just 7.4 ppg. It appears their bench is pretty weak from a scoring standpoint.
Bojan Bogdanovich, their 31-year-old, 6'7" small forward, leads in scoring at 21.8 ppg. He's hitting 52% of his shots and 50% of his 3's. PG Cade Cunningham is having a nice season with a line of 22/6/6. However, he's shooting just 28.6% from deep. Saddiq Bey averages 16.0 ppg in his third season.
Rookie PG Jaden Ivey, the #5 overall pick, is averaging 14.6 points but only 3.4 assists. He shoots 44% overall and 33.3% on 3's.
One problem for the Pistons is they rank 26th in defensive rebounding. The Cavs may be able to exploit that.
Defensively the Pistons rank 27th at 119.7 ppg. They're average at defending the 3-pointer but are 28th at defending the 2-point shot and 28th at allowing points in the paint, so the Cavs' obvious approach will be to pound it inside. They're 27th in steals per defensive play so it appears there is nothing they do well defensively and not much offensively, either.
But after gearing up for big games against the Celtics and Knicks the Cavs may have an emotional letdown and they could also be missing Garland, Mitchell, and Neto, which would put them in a serious bind. With Neto possibly out as well we could see LeVert and Okoro at point guard.
With games against the Lakers and Clippers on Sunday and Monday the Cavs might feel the best thing is let Garland and Mitchell have three days off and hopefully be ready to go against the LA teams.
Last year the Cavs came out of the All-Star break with a 35-23 record and lost their first game - to Detroit on the road. I can see that happening again, especially if Garland and Mitchell are either out or less than 100%. The Cavs will be counting on LeVert to run the offense and their bigs to dominate in the paint both offensively and defensively, unless Garland or Mitchell can play.
They've had their moments, though, including a win by 14 over Golden State and a 2-point loss to undefeated Milwaukee.
This feels like a trap game where the Cavs could come in complacent and ripe for an upset. Especially since all three of their point guards (Garland, Mitchell, and Neto) are listed as questionable. This is the first of three games in four days so the Cavs will be very challenged on the road this weekend.
Detroit is not a good offensive team, ranking 25th in points per game. They're 27th in points in the paint and 20th in points on 3's. They have five players averaging 13-22 points per game, so the scoring is pretty balanced. After those five they don't have much, however, with the next highest at just 7.4 ppg. It appears their bench is pretty weak from a scoring standpoint.
Bojan Bogdanovich, their 31-year-old, 6'7" small forward, leads in scoring at 21.8 ppg. He's hitting 52% of his shots and 50% of his 3's. PG Cade Cunningham is having a nice season with a line of 22/6/6. However, he's shooting just 28.6% from deep. Saddiq Bey averages 16.0 ppg in his third season.
Rookie PG Jaden Ivey, the #5 overall pick, is averaging 14.6 points but only 3.4 assists. He shoots 44% overall and 33.3% on 3's.
One problem for the Pistons is they rank 26th in defensive rebounding. The Cavs may be able to exploit that.
Defensively the Pistons rank 27th at 119.7 ppg. They're average at defending the 3-pointer but are 28th at defending the 2-point shot and 28th at allowing points in the paint, so the Cavs' obvious approach will be to pound it inside. They're 27th in steals per defensive play so it appears there is nothing they do well defensively and not much offensively, either.
But after gearing up for big games against the Celtics and Knicks the Cavs may have an emotional letdown and they could also be missing Garland, Mitchell, and Neto, which would put them in a serious bind. With Neto possibly out as well we could see LeVert and Okoro at point guard.
With games against the Lakers and Clippers on Sunday and Monday the Cavs might feel the best thing is let Garland and Mitchell have three days off and hopefully be ready to go against the LA teams.
Last year the Cavs came out of the All-Star break with a 35-23 record and lost their first game - to Detroit on the road. I can see that happening again, especially if Garland and Mitchell are either out or less than 100%. The Cavs will be counting on LeVert to run the offense and their bigs to dominate in the paint both offensively and defensively, unless Garland or Mitchell can play.
