Game Preview: Pistons v Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers will travel to Detroit on Thursday to take on the
Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Cavaliers (42-20) have hit yet
another rocky patch in their season after suffering back-to-back losses to the
Heat — one of which came without both LeBron James and Kyrie Irving — and
losing three of their last four games. Nevertheless, they still sit on top of
the Eastern Conference standings, albeit not by much, with the Celtics just
three games behind and even the Wizards hanging around at just four games back.
To make matters worse for Cleveland, they lost Andrew Bogut just three minutes
into his time as a Cavalier, as the big man broke his left tibia in Monday’s
game against Miami. Their other new asset, Deron Williams, is averaging 5.5
points and 4.5 assists off the bench in his time in Cleveland. As for the
Pistons (31-33), they are currently hanging on for dear life to their playoff
spot, as they currently sit as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, but
they are just a half-game ahead of the eighth-place Bulls and one game ahead of
Miami. And things were looking up for Detroit until Wednesday, when they lost on
the road to the Pacers by 17 points. That loss came just after the team recorded
back-to-back wins over Philadelphia and Chicago by a combined 34 points. To win
Thursday, the Pistons will have to sharpen up a ton defensively, as they have
given up at least 104 points in six of their last seven games.