The PRE Report - March 16, 2010

Key Matchup

Maxiell 65 6.4 5.1 0.5 .510 Games PPG RPG SPG FG% 65 8.9 7.9 0.9 .568 Varejao Despite the second disheartening road defeat in three nights, Jason Maxiell continued his stellar production in Boston. He had 11 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth consecutive double-double. Maxiell had nine points and eight rebounds Mar. 5 in Cleveland; since then he’s averaged 11.6 points and 11.8 rebounds in his last five games. The 6-foot-7 Maxiell matches up favorable with the Cavs' current frontcourt, which doesn’t have 7-footers Shaquille O’Neal or Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Starting center J.J. Hickson, 6-foot-9, was rendered a nonfactor Mar. 5, mustering four points and one rebound in 16 minutes. Cavs reserve big man Anderson Varejao, however, factored in plenty. The 6-foot-11 Varejao made eight of 10 shots, posting 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Cavaliers outscored Detroit by 21 points during his 39 minutes on the floor. LeBron James, by comparison, was plus-12. Varejao had 17 points and 10 rebounds in Sunday’s win over Boston. It was his fourth double-double in seven games this month, coming one rebound shy of a fifth.

Prince, a four-time All-Defensive second team member, left Monday night’s 119-93 loss at Boston with a sore back after crashing into the knee of teammate Jason Maxiell in the first quarter. He’ll be the third starter on the Pistons’ injury list along with Rodney Stuckey and Ben Wallace.

Stuckey and Prince were the two best things going for Detroit when the Pistons visited Cleveland on Mar. 5. In the first quarter Stuckey had four points and five assists while Prince scored 12 of his team-high 23 points. The Pistons led by as many as 21 points before going into halftime ahead, 55-46.

With the momentum already swinging Cleveland’s way in the third quarter, Stuckey collapsed on the bench. His subsequent departure from Quicken Loans Arena in an ambulance relegated basketball to an afterthought. The Cavs won, 99-92. James complimented his 40 points with 13 rebounds, six assists, three steals. The 2009 MVP is averaging a league-high 29.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 7.8 assists.

Cavs guard Delonte West added 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench. West scored just three points in Sunday’s 104-93 home win over the Celtics. It was his first game with fewer than 12 points this month; he had been averaging 17.4 points on 55.0 percent shooting over the six games prior.

Resting Prince would be a reasonable precautionary measure. The onetime NBA iron man missed the first two months of the season with a ruptured disc, though initial reports are last night’s accident did not aggravate the prior condition.

With Jonas Jerebko now starting at power forward, Kuester would have to go in another direction for Prince’s replacement – perhaps Austin Daye, who has a pair of starts already under his belt. Daye totaled 29 points and 11 rebounds in starts on Nov. 27 against the Clippers and Jan. 18 against the Knicks. He scored a career-high 16 points at New York.

Daye had nearly as many as turnovers (five) as points (six) in Boston, giving an opportunity to Detroit’s third rookie, DaJuan Summers. He responded with 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting, including two triples.

“DaJuan did a nice job, you know he shot the ball well, got a little bit better defensively,” Kuester said. “Austin I thought also did some things offensively good, but he has five turnovers and you don’t want to have that many turnovers in this situation.”

The situation is a little brighter in Cleveland, where the Cavs are a league-best 52-15 and have won nine of their last 10 games.

A victory Tuesday would help the Pistons end two unpleasant slides: six straight on the second night of back-to-backs and nine in a row to the Cavaliers, including last year’s playoff series. The Pistons last defeated Cleveland on Nov. 19, 2008, at The Palace.