Yep, another choke job with Sexton dominating the ball late and not getting the shot to go down. Garland also missed a driving layup. Why are these guys trying to attack the rim on Drummond? Sexton actually tried a dunk that Drummond cleanly blocked.
And we get to see more post-game comments about what a great "learning experience" these come from ahead losses are.
The first half was fantastic - the Cavs put up 67 points with 21 assists. The second half? 46 points, 9 assists. What happened? Cedi had 14 points in the first half and 3 in the second. They should have gone to him more - he was having a great night.
The starting trio of TT, Sexton, and Cedi all were -17 to -22. The bench trio of Wade, Zizic, and Delly were +13 to +15. That group, along with Knight, looked really good. Big Z had 9 rebounds in 16 minutes and was a +15.
Brandon Knight is knocking the rust off as he starts to get some minutes. He had 13 points and 5 assists in 24 minutes. Keep playing him. If nobody wants to trade for him maybe we could use him as a backup next year.
The Cavs shot 49.4% overall and 45.9% on 3's. Unfortunately their defense just isn't there as the Pistons put 115 points on the board without three starters, including Blake Griffin. Derrick Rose tore through the Cavs like he did in the first meeting, scoring 24 points with 7 assists in 31 minutes. The Pistons should trade him to a contender now that Griffin is done for the year. Rose took over the game in the final minutes.
Love had a monster game, going 12-for-15 for 30 points with 9 rebounds and 4 assists. But he had four turnovers, including two more on long outlet passes that were either overthrown or stolen. I am so tired of watching him grab a rebound and heave the ball down the floor only to have it picked off or sail out of bounds. Stop it, already. They should put together a video of every bad outlet pass he's made this year, or which there are many. I think he'd be shocked and would stop forcing those passes.
Delly put on a clinic on how to run an offense with 9 assists in 19 minutes. At the end of the game Beilein brought him in to guard Derrick Rose. Drummond back picked him and Rose sailed into the lane where Thompson backed off to prevent the layup, so Rose hit a floater that put the Pistons ahead for good.
We really could have used Dante Exum or KPJ to get a bigger body on Rose, but with both of them out we had to go with Sexton, Garland, and Delly.
Take the team that played last night and add Exum, Porter, Nance, Henson, and Windler and that won't be a bad team. Not good, maybe, but not bad. It's nice to see guys that weren't getting much if any playing time like Exum (in Utah), Zizic, and Knight starting to contribute. Exum and Knight are trying to come back from multiple injuries. Zizic just turned 23 this week. They're all getting a chance to carve out a spot in this league, either with Cleveland or somewhere else.