Wrap-Up – Playing without their starting backcourt – Kyrie Irving, still nursing a broken finger and Dion Waiters, out with a sprained left ankle – the Cavaliers fell behind big early, trailing by 17 at intermission. The energy picked up in the late in the fourth quarter, when the Cavs cut Detroit’s lead to six points, but the Pistons pulled away down the stretch for the 89-79 win.
As he has all season, Anderson Varejao turned in another huge effort – leading the Cavs with 17 points and both squads with 18 boards. Tristan Thompson also doubled-up with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Jeremy Pargo and Omri Casspi – getting his first start of the season – added 10 points apiece.
Turning Point – The deciding moments of the game came right after the opening tip – with Detroit running out to a 14-4 lead and not looking back. But the Cavaliers made the game interesting with just over 3:30 to play fourth quarter, when Varejao scored five straight points for Cleveland, cutting Detroit’s lead to just six, 85-79. But that was as good as it would get for the Wine and Gold in Motown.
Game Ball – Anderson Varjeao – Once again, Varjeao was the driving force for the Cavaliers – keeping them in it for the first three quarters and almost putting them over the top in the closing minutes of the fourth. Exactly half of the league’s leading rebounder's 18 boards were off the offensive glass. On Monday, the Wild Thing was 7-of-18 from the floor; the rest of the starting lineup was 14-for-47.
By the Numbers – 551 … career three-pointers made by Daniel Gibson, moving him past Wesley Person and into third place on the Cavaliers’ all-time list
Quotable – Coach Byron Scott, on the Cavaliers’ loss …
“In the second half, we didn’t fold when we had a chance to. We just kept fighting. We just didn’t have enough offensive firepower to get the job done tonight.”
Up Next – The Cavaliers host the Bulls on Wednesday night, trying to avenge a 29-point loss at The Q in the second game of the season. After that, it’s another road-home weekend back-to-back – facing the Timberwolves in Minnesota on Friday night before the Pistons come to Cleveland on Saturday.