On Monday night, the Cavaliers welcome the Pistons to The Q for the first time this season in a matchup of two teams traveling in different directions.
The Wine and Gold won their fifth straight on Sunday afternoon in Oklahoma City – dropping 115 points on the Thunder despite being without Iman Shumpert, Mo Williams, Channing Frye and – for the most part – Kyrie Irving, who was forced to leave the game with flu-like symptoms after logging just nine minutes. Even without Irving, the Cavs made short work of the Thunder, leading by nine at intermission and running that edge to as many as 26 in the third quarter as they swept OKC for the season.
Cleveland has split its season series through two games with the Pistons – who come to The Q hoping to snap a five-game losing streak. On Sunday, Detroit surrendered the top individual game of the season as New Orleans’ Anthony Davis went off for 59 points and 20 boards in Motown.
The Cavs victory on Sunday gave them a full four-game lead over the Raptors for the top spot in the East; with Sunday’s loss to the Pelicans pushed the Pistons outside the playoff picture, trailing the Bulls by 2.5 games for the eighth and final spot.
Kevin Love has been outstanding over his last two games after the Break. The three-time All-Star finished with 15 points and 15 boards in last Thursday’s win over the Bulls and was even better on Sunday, playing perhaps his best game of the year.
In Sunday’s win over the Thunder, Love led all scorers with 29 points – going 9-of-18 from the floor and 11-of-12 from the stripe, tallying his team-high 25th double-double of the season with 11 boards. The last time, coincidentally, that Love scored 29 points, it was against these same Pistons back on January 29 in Motown – going 9-for-19 from the floor, including 5-of-7 from long-range.
Marcus Morris – who finished with 14 points of his own in that contest – will check Love on Monday at The Q. He and Andre Drummond are still reeling from Anthony Davis’ outburst on Sunday afternoon, but they’ll both have to get it together against a red-hot Love and a Central Division foe that’s been averaging 115.3 points per game over its past four outings.
Despite Anthony Davis’ damage on Sunday, the Pistons still boast the East’s top pure big man in Andre Drummond. The All-Star forward and league’s leading rebounder finished with 21 points, 14 boards, three blocks and a pair of steals against New Orleans.
Drummond – who also leads the NBA in double-doubles with 46 – was huge against Cleveland in the first game this season, leading Detroit with 25 points and a game-high 18 boards in the win. But the combination of Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov kept the fourth-year center completely in check – holding him to 20 points and eight rebounds.
In that contest, Thompson was still coming off the bench. But he and the Cavaliers have been much more efficient with him as a starter – checking in a 20-4 this season when Tristan’s in the opening lineup. On Sunday afternoon, the former Longhorn registered his third straight double-double – finishing with 14 points and 14 boards in the win.
Over Thompson’s last three games, he’s averaging 15.0 points and 12.3 boards per, shooting 82 percent (18-of-22) from the floor. Mozgov has been very good after the Break, as well – averaging 11.0 points, 6.0 boards and 2.0 blocks in the first two outings of the second half.
Detroit was one of the more active teams during the Trade Deadline, and their keystone acquisition last week was prying Tobias Harris from the Orlando Magic in exchange for Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova.
The fifth-year forward from Tennessee has been rock-solid in his first two games with the Pistons – averaging 18.5 points on 52 percent shooting, including a 21-point, 9-for-12 performance against the Wizards in his Detroit debut.
He’ll have to keep that roll going on Monday night if the Pistons have any hope of snapping their recent skid – as Harris matches up with LeBron James, who comes into tonight’s contest on a roll of his own. In his two games since the Break, James is averaging an even 25.0 points, 8.0 boards and 10.0 assists. In two games against Detroit this season, LeBron is right on that 25.0 average.
In their first meeting of the season, LeBron led the Wine and Gold with 30 points in a loss; in the second outing, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving did most of the heavy lifting, with James leading both squads with eight assists. The four-time MVP will face a different challenge with Harris in the lineup for Detroit, but he’s faced the young gun before with Orlando as has had plenty of success.
After playing just nine minutes against Oklahoma City, an illness forced Kyrie Irving back into the locker room. He struggled during morning walk-through but still decided to give it a go. Whether or not he’ll be able to get out from under the weather will be a big factor into tonight’s matchup with Reggie Jackson and the Pistons.
Jackson sits near the top of the Eastern Conference in several statistical areas: he’s 4th in assists, 4th in field goal percentage and 5th in scoring. This year, he became the first Piston since Isiah Thomas in 1988 to notch at least 30 points and 15 assists in a game. He’s also the first Piston since Ben Gordon to top the 40-point mark – notching 26 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter of a road win over Portland.
Kyrie came into Sunday’s game on a roll – topping the 20-point plateau in seven of his previous nine games, averaging 26.0 points on 54 percent shooting during that span. But if he’s unable to go against Detroit, Matthew Dellavedova will move into the starting lineup. Delly, who bounced back after missing five straight before the Break with a sore left hamstring, finished with seven assists in relief of Irving on Sunday afternoon in OKC.
