Wrap-Up — Over the previous five games, the Cavaliers had successfully beaten teams up by halftime. But on Monday night, the Wine and Gold couldn’t produce that same level of intensity against the Pistons.
Instead, the Cavaliers gave up 33 points in the first period and it was obvious by the middle of the third quarter that Sunday’s 23-point victory over the Thunder in Oklahoma City had taken more out of them than expected. And despite a furious rally in the final five minutes, Cleveland finally had its streak snapped – falling, 96-88, to Detroit at The Q.
The Cavaliers had been putting teams away early, but the Pistons turned the tables on them in Monday’s Central Division slugfest. The Cavaliers took a four-point edge with just over seven minutes to play in the first period, but Detroit reclaimed the lead on Andre Drummond’s tip-in two minutes later – and Tyronn Lue’s squad found itself in an uphill battle the rest of the night.
Kyrie Irving scored 12 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter – going 11-for-21 from the floor overall and adding five assists and a pair of steals.
Kevin Love followed up his 29-point effort in OKC with a 24-point outing against Detroit – finishing 8-of-15 from the floor to go with seven boards in the loss.
The only other Cavalier in double-figures was LeBron James – but it wasn’t a very LeBron-like line, going 5-for-18 from the floor for a season-low 12 points, adding eight boards, five assists and three steals.
Still without the services of Iman Shumpert (shoulder) and Mo Williams (knee), the Cavaliers didn’t get a ton of production off their bench. Matthew Dellavedova pitched in with seven points and five assists and Timofey Mozgov finished with seven boards.
Channing Frye, acquired in a Deadline deal last Thursday, was cleared to play on Monday and made his Cavaliers debut against Detroit – finishing with two points, four rebounds and an assist.
On the night, the Cavaliers – who came in averaging 115.3 points per contest over their previous four – shot just 43 percent from the floor, including just 31 percent from long-distance. Cleveland did shoot 92 percent from the stripe, but took only 13 attempts on the evening.
Turning Point — Trailing by as many as 18 points midway through the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers found some life down the stretch. Kyrie Irving scored five straight points to key a 12-0 run that got the Wine and Gold to within six, 88-82, with 2:28 to play.
But Detroit’s Reggie Jackson scored on a floater on the Pistons’ next possession and the Cavaliers could get no closer than seven the rest of the way.
By the Numbers – 22.7, 11.0 … Kevin Love’s scoring and rebounding average over the past three games. During that stretch, Love is shooting 51 percent from the floor and 90 percent from the stripe.
Quotable – Kyrie Irving, on the Cavs’ effort in Monday night’s loss …
“We had a few spurts, but they were a lot more physical from the start of the game until the end. They deserved to beat us.”
Up Next – Following the Wine and Gold’s loss on Monday night, the Cavaliers welcome Charlotte to The Q on Wednesday night, looking for a little revenge after a shorthanded Hornets squad knocked them off on Tobacco Road earlier this month. On Friday night, it’s the final meeting of the season with the Raptors, as the Cavs – who sit 2.5 games ahead of Toronto for the top spot in the East – travel to Air Canada Centre. From North of the Border, the Cavs travel to Washington for a Sunday matinee in the nation’s capital. Cleveland returns home for the second-half of that back-to-back, welcoming the Pacers to The Q next Monday night.
