The Cavs ruined JB Bickerstaff’s return to Cleveland… oh darn.
JB’s Pistons crew certainly tried to get revenge I’m sure he sought but the wind in their offensive sails deteriorated as the game went on going from 29 points in the first quarter to 22 points in the fourth quarter. Seems like not much has changed.
Meanwhile, the Cavs scored 110+ points without their backcourt doing much of the offensive damage.
Any game Dean Wade leads the Cavs in scoring is a good game. Going with his team high in scoring, he also had a team high in three-pointers made (5) and a team plus-minus (+14). Also is a TS% of 100% on 9 shot attempts any good?
Two games in and Wade and Ty Jerome may be the story of how the Cavs role players have stepped up.
Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland have combined to score 60 points through the first two games, yet Jerome and Wade have combined for 51 points. If we compare the combined salaries between the two pairs, it may be scary.
Wade and Jerome also have put up a combined +47 plus minus while Mitchell and Garland have combined for a +43.
So far this is what Kenny promised: He wanted to make things more of a team effort and take the burden off Mitchell and Garland on a night-by-night basis.
Another thing Kenny promised is getting three-pointers up early and often. 5 of the first 7 Cavalier field goals were three-point attempts, and all five of the Cavs first five made buckets were threes.
Through two games, the Cavs have gotten up 31 and 34 three-point attempts They averaged 36.8 per game last year.
While the Cavs were pounding the perimeter, the Pistons were pounding the paint. Half of the Pistons first quarter shot attempts were in the paint and restricted area. The Cavs struggled to deter dribble penetration early on.
Following an early Cavalier timeout, the Pistons pushed their initial first quarter lead to 17-12 which would be their largest lead of the game.
Cade Cunningham came out ready to play and scored 9 of his game high 33 points in the first quarter. The Pistons were spamming the Cavs with a lot of pick-and-roll actions involving Cunningham and were hunting matchups for him.
The Cavs first reserve shift came in and quickly went on a 9-0 run, flipping the Pistons five-point lead to a Cavs five-point lead.
Going right back at the Cavs, Malik Beasley went on a quick 8-0 run himself which was just enough to get the Pistons a one-point lead heading into the second quarter.
Mitchell was held scoreless during the first quarter but did have five assists. In his postgame comments, Kenny noted that Mitchell banged his knee early in the game that may have impacted his lift.
While Mitchell was held down, Garland probably played his best quarter of the game in the first quarter. He had 9 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and all 5 of his field goal attempts were three-point attempts. More quarters like these and he will take off.
The Cavs did force 8 Detroit turnovers in the first quarter which contributed to the 22 total they committed for the game.
The second quarter may slowly be morphing into Ty Jerome time. Jerome was an offensive engine scoring 10 of his 12 points in the second and created another 7 points thanks to 3 assists.
Jerome had a repeat performance from the Toronto game. His stint in the second quarter helped push a Cavalier lead, and more importantly, led a bench unit to a positive impact.
During a stretch in the second quarter with Jerome, the Cavs scored on seven straight offensive possessions.
To that point, the Cavs bench had 17 points in the 2nd quarter. Jerome contributed to 12 of those 17 points.
The Cavs had their offensive outburst in the second quarter going for 37 total points and shooting 60.9%. Their best offensive quarter versus Toronto also saw them score 36 points in the second and third quarters.
Detroit had a good offensive second quarter (26 points, 50 FG%) too but the Cavs elite second quarter led to a double-digit lead for the Cavs at the half.
While the Cavs and Pistons were even at FG% (53% each) and near even at 3PM (Cavs had 9 3PM, the Pistons had 8 3PM), the Cavs 8 FTM versus the Pistons 1 FTM were the difference offensively.
The Pistons did a good job in controlling the glass (23 to 17) but failed to exercise that same type of control with the ball (13 to 4 in turnovers) at half. It’s the mark of a young team, and one that Bickerstaff will be tasked with turning around. They giveth and taketh away in the same breath.
With that being said, those same Pistons were feisty. All throughout the third quarter the Cavs kept pushing to try and push the Pistons away, but the Pistons kept clawing back. The Cavs were a +2 for the quarter but the Pistons got the lead down as little as 4 at one point.
Part of that was Cade continuing to pick the Cavs a part. He continued a strong game with another impactful quarter scoring 12 points and dishing out 3 assists.
Soon thereafter the Pistons getting the lead down to 4, the Cavs went on an 8-0 run to end the quarter. Most of it was done by doing the little things: Merrill collecting a charge; Mitchell getting an offensive rebound off a free throw for a putback; Mitchell creating and-one attempts.
Digging into the 8-0 run further, the entire run came after Mobley and Mitchell subbed in for Allen and Garland.
The Garland, Merrill, LeVert, Niang and Allen lineup fell victim to a 9-2 run by the Pistons. Earlier in the game, the same lineup gave up an 8-2 run to the Pistons in the second quarter. Take away this lineup and the Cavs win by 25+ points.
After a fairly quiet first half (6 points, 3-9 FG, 5 assists), Mitchell came alive a bit in the third quarter with 10 points. No other Cavalier had more than four points in the quarter.
It wouldn’t be a Cavaliers game without Niang getting a little testy. After a Ron Holland defensive rebound, Niang and Holland got into it at midcourt jostling for position. This led to a double technical for Niang and Malik Beasley.
It also wouldn’t be a Cavs game without Mobley getting called for a travel off an attempted drive off a closeout. Either Mobley must start hitting those spot-up shots when the opportunity is there or he has to cleanup his footwork. He got two travels called on him in this game and has been a problem that has plagued him early on in his career.
On the other hand, as much as I dislike that, I equally like as much the Cavs running inverted actions with Mobley as the ball-handler and Garland as the screener to get Mobley space to operate and get downhill.
The Cavs maintained their double-digit lead for most of the quarter, but the Pistons looked like they may make the fourth quarter a competitive one. However, Dean Wade had other plans.
After the Pistons cut it to 8 points with under 7 minutes left, Wade hit back-to-back three-pointers. These were the first three pointers of the quarter and the first since a minute left in the third quarter.
Wade’s clutch shots couldn’t have come at a better time, as Allen and Garland poured in their own buckets pushing the Cavs lead to 18 points.
The Allen bucket came off a Ty Jerome passout of the pick-and-roll. Jerome had an earlier find in the game out of pick-and-roll that was equally as impressive, and goes to show his comfort playing in pick-and-roll early in the season.
When asked about Jerome postgame, it was interesting to note that it was nice to have another "brain" on the court. It may be a slightly confusing thing to say but having another capable ballhandler, creator and game manager allows Garland to shift roles while on the court and take some time off the ball. Instead of being tasked with being the point guard for all his minutes, Jerome allows Garland to get a breather.
The Cavs did just enough to put the Pistons away in time for their victory lineup to get time with over a minute left.
While not a cause for concern yet, one place to watch how Kenny operates is in late game offensive situations.
Over the last two years, things would often get stagnant, and they would devolve into hero ball – either Garland or Mitchell trying to create in iso or pick-and-roll settings, with the hope they could make an individual play for a bucket.
We saw some of that late as Mitchell and Garland went 0-for-4 with one turnover in five straight possessions. Luckily, the Pistons couldn’t capitalize on the Cavs poor late game execution and only scored three points in that time.
Old habits are sometimes hard to break especially when pressure is on but if the Cavs want to ascend to the next level offensively, they’ll need to develop better habits to navigate the pressure.
Call it a JB Bickerstaff game but the Cavs pace was below 100 at 97.5 on the night.
Up next: The Cavs travel to Washington for the second night of a back-to-back. Game time is 7:00PM (ET).
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