Notebook: Cavaliers 101, Pistons 100

Posted Wednesday February 22, 2012 12:05AM

By Brian Dulik, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Point guard Kyrie Irving and shooting guard Alonzo Gee combined for 30 points in the fourth quarter as the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied for a 101-100 victory over the Detroit Pistons. Irving scored 17 points and Gee had 13 in the final period for the Cavaliers, who trailed by 17 late in the third quarter. Cleveland power forward Antawn Jamison scored a game-high 32 points, while Irving finished with 25 points and a career-best eight assists. Point guard Brandon Knight paced the Pistons with 24 points, while center Greg Monroe had 19 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high seven assists.

QUOTABLE: "Really, two guys dominated for them in the fourth quarter. Irving and Gee kicked our tail. They willed it back for them. It's not that we didn't compete and play hard, I think they took it from us. You've got to give credit to those two guys. Irving and Gee were great in the fourth."
-- Pistons coach Lawrence Frank

THE STAT: The Pistons grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and scored 20 second-chance points over the first three quarters, but were blanked in both categories in the fourth. In the process, Cleveland dominated the overall glass battle 18-8 -- with Gee collecting six of his career-high 11 in the frame. "We just lost focus and stopped paying attention to detail, and they got hot," Monroe said. "When two teams are playing hard and everything is intense, there are things you can't control." Largely thanks to their prowess on the boards, the Cavaliers outscored Detroit 35-23 in the fourth.

TURNING POINT: The Pistons held a 72-55 advantage with 4:27 left in the third, but the Cavaliers answered with a 31-13 run to take a one-point lead midway through the fourth. Detroit tied the score at 95-95 on a Knight 3-pointer with 1:02 remaining, only to have Gee grab his own rebound and dunk the ball in traffic to put Cleveland ahead for good at 97-95. Irving and shooting guard Daniel Gibson each went 2-for-2 at the foul line in the final 12 seconds to seal the deal for the Cavaliers, rendering Detroit shooting guard Ben Gordon's trey at the buzzer meaningless.

QUOTABLE II: "Kyrie said he was going to turn it up -- and he did. He turned it up. Kyrie is unbelievable, so I just fed off his energy. He helped the team win and made good plays and set up easy shots for us."
-- Gee

HOT: The Cavaliers' comeback from a 17-point deficit was their largest since rallying from 21 down against Detroit on March 5, 2010. It also marked Cleveland's fifth win this season after trailing by double digits. ... Jamison collected 10 rebounds to post the 300th double-double of his NBA career. He is averaging 22.0 points and 8.7 boards in his last 10 games. ... Gibson had a career-high three blocked shots. ... Gee is averaging 13.2 points and 4.8 rebounds in his last 12 contests. ... Pistons power forward Jonas Jerebko grabbed a season-best five offensive rebounds. ... Rookie Knight shot 8-for-12 from the field, 4-for-5 beyond the arc, and 4-for-4 from the foul line.

NOT: Pistons small forward Tayshaun Prince missed his final 12 shots en route to a 2-for-15 performance. His season field goal percentage fell to .406 ... Detroit point guard Will Bynum was 0-for-4 off the bench. ... The Pistons have lost four straight games against Cleveland. ... Cavaliers power forward Tristan Thompson failed to score and missed five shots -- all in the paint -- in 20 minutes. ... Jamison was 7-for-14 at the foul line, taking over the Cleveland lead in free throw attempts with 119 while dropping his free throw percentage to .605. ... Top overall draft choice Irving committed six turnovers, all in the first three quarters, and has 85 on the campaign.

QUOTABLE III: "Everyone says that the fourth quarter is the pressure quarter, but I feel like our team is really prepared for it. There's no pressure on us. We were down, but I had confidence in our team to get stops down the stretch. It felt good. This was a big win for us."
-- Irving

GOOD MOVE: Gee's go-ahead slam with 25.4 seconds left in the fourth came on Cleveland's third shot of the possession. With the score tied at 95-95, Irving missed a driving layup, but Gee grabbed the rebound and came up short on a heavily-contested short jumper. The former NBA D-League Rookie of the Year subsequently corralled that miss and hammered home a two-hand dunk that sent the Quicken Loans Arena crowd into a frenzy. "After I got hit on my second shot, I saw where the ball was going, so I kept playing," Gee explained. "That was how I was able to get my own rebound, and I finally dunked it."

BAD MOVE: Cavaliers center Semih Erden needed four stitches on his right eyebrow after Jamison accidentally hit him in the head while battling for a rebound. "I have to thank Antawn for that," quipped Erden, who also had significant swelling above and below his eye. "He got me good." ... Also in the first half, Prince used his off-arm to bloody Gee's nose on a drive to the basket. "Thank God it ain't broken, but there was a lot of blood when it happened," Gee said. "A lot of blood." ... Monroe also briefly exited the game with a bloody nose after Casspi inadvertently elbowed him in the schnozz.

NOTABLE: The Cavaliers are 4-3 during their franchise-record nine-game homestand. ... Detroit had its three-game losing streak snapped and is 7-3 in its last 10 contests. ... Monroe, Knight and Thompson will play on Shaquille O'Neal's team in the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, while Irving will play for Charles Barkley's squad. Irving also was chosen to compete in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. ... Detroit Lions nose tackle Ndamukong Suh attended the game as the guest of Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and his son, Nick.

UP NEXT: For the Pistons, Wednesday @ Toronto, Feb. 28 vs. Philadelphia, Feb. 29 vs. Charlotte. For the Cavaliers, Wednesday vs. New Orleans, Feb. 28 vs. Boston, Feb. 29 at New York.