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Pistons can't get over the hump as red-hot Cavs grind out 7th straight win

The Cleveland Cavaliers arrived not as the dysfunctional mess that welcomed the Pistons a month ago, but as the high-powered juggernaut featuring three of the NBA's elite offensive talents and a complementary group bolstered by three key additions since then, all of it adding up to six straight wins and explosive scoring.

The Pistons still might have won if only ... well, a half-dozen things, really, but two in particular.

Take your pick. The half-dozen shots at the rim that Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe couldn't convert in the second half, when they combined to shoot 7 of 22. Or the 13 times the Pistons stopped Cleveland's offense cold the first time around only to see the Cavs wind up with a second chance to score, a category they won 20-14 despite the fact the Pistons finished with three more offensive rebounds.

Stan Van Gundy had a third point of contention from the 103-95 loss, the Cavs held 11 points under their average during their six-game win streak: the 18 turnovers the Pistons committed.

"I thought we missed some shots that were makeable, but the two things that stand out to me that really took away our chance to win were 18 turnovers and 20 second-chance points for them. I thought our defense against the first shot was pretty good. Cut the turnovers by a third and have 12 turnovers and they get 10 second-chance points, we got a chance to win the game."

The emotionally damaging effect of missed bunnies and giving a great offensive team second chances, though, kept the Pistons running uphill all night, even if it seemed they were on the cusp of getting over the hump on so many occasions. They trailed by under double digits most of the game and were still within seven within a minute and a half left when Drummond missed a point-blank layup to pull within five.

"It's tough when they're coming down, scoring, and we come down and miss easy buckets at the rim," said D.J. Augustin, terrific again as the stand-in for Brandon Jennings, who underwent surgery Monday for the ruptured Achilles tendon that ends his season. "It takes a lot out of you. But we can't hold our heads down. We've just got to get back on defense and play hard."

Monroe and Drummond both had double-doubles despite their close-range misses. Monroe finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, but wound up missing 6 of his last 7 shots. Drummond hit two baskets in the last 15 seconds with the Pistons in foul-and-attack mode, but he finished 6 of 17 and was 1 of 9 in the fourth quarter before the two late makes. That marred a night that otherwise looked like a dominant stat line: 12 points, 17 boards, six blocks.

And even that the Pistons might have overcome with a little better 3-point shooting – they finished 8 of 24, 2 of 14 from players other than Augustin and Anthony Tolliver – or better care of the basketball. But the thing that seemed to cut the heart out of them was the way Cleveland – seemingly at every critical juncture – chased down a missed shot to keep a possession alive and then score the second time around.

"It is disheartening, but that's part of the reason why they're so good, because they are really good on the boards," said Tolliver, terrific off the bench with 16 points in 30 minutes, hitting 3 of 4 triples and hitting all five free throws. "Whenever you do get stops, it doesn't stop there. You've got to have second, third, fourth efforts in order to beat a team like that, every single time. It felt like we did that several times, but not every time. When we didn't, they made us pay and put the ball back in. That's disheartening and makes you lose a little energy whenever that happens."

The Pistons have lost three straight after not having lost consecutive games for more than a month, but Van Gundy advises that be taken with a grain of salt, not a sign of backsliding or unraveling in the wake of Jennings' loss.

"The three straight losses is a function of the schedule," he said. "I think we've had two games in the 18 since Christmas where you can say we didn't play well. The other night we're in a four-point game at Toronto with a very good team, second- or third-best team in the East. We've lost two I thought were pretty competitive games with Atlanta, which is the best team in the East. I thought we had a pretty competitive game tonight with a team that is very hot. I don't think we're in any kind of downward spiral because we lost those games. I think our team will be just fine."

There is a similar sentiment coursing through the locker room. They took a punch to the gut in Milwaukee, a locker room that defined somber as news of the severity of Jennings' injury took root, but they've gathered themselves and believe they'll exhibit the same fight over the season's home stretch as they have the past five weeks.

"B.J. going down is a big loss for us," Tolliver said. "He was a big part of our team. I think that we have enough in here to still make a push. I think that's something we have to continue to believe and instill in each other. The confidence we had a week and a half, two weeks ago, we're still that same team, minus B.J., but we're still a team that can make a run and hopefully make the playoffs."