CLEVELAND – Cleveland’s first turnover came in the game’s 22nd minute. That’s pretty much what you need to know about the defensive intensity – or lack thereof, more to the point – the Pistons brought to the job in a 126-119 loss to the lottery-bound Cleveland Cavaliers.
Yeah, that’s the same team they beat by 36 points on the same floor 16 days ago.
“Our defensive disposition was nil,” Dwane Casey said. “Nil.”
The Pistons rested Blake Griffin, whom Casey thought had been “laboring getting up and down the floor” recently. But Cleveland was without its All-Star, too, Kevin Love, as well as Larry Nance, Tristan Thompson, John Henson and Matthew Dellavedova. The Cavs only dressed nine players.
Cleveland, the NBA’s 26th-ranked offensive team, shot 58 percent overall and 50 percent from the 3-point arc, getting better as the game unfolded. With Andre Drummond on the bench to start the fourth quarter, the Cavs scored 14 points on the first six possessions.
By the time Casey waved Drummond back into the game with 8:27 to play and Cleveland ahead by three points, it was game on. The Cavs knocked down their first eight shots of the quarter – their first miss didn’t come until 4:14 remained – and wound up hitting 11 of 14 shots in the quarter, 6 of 9 triples and 11 of 13 free throws in scoring 39 points.
“I think they played with a lot of energy and they got out in transition and played free,” Bruce Brown said. “They knocked down open shots and contested shots. They just played well today. I think we had a lack of energy. Maybe some guys are tired.”
Rookie Colin Sexton led the Cavs with 27 points and hit 5 of 6 triples, including two big ones in the final two minutes. The first, with 1:54 to play, gave the Cavs the lead for good at 115-114. Wayne Ellington, who scored a season-high 25 points and hit 7 of 13 triples, saw his 3-pointer rattle out on the ensuing possession and then Cedi Osman and Sexton tripled around a Reggie Jackson miss to seal the outcome.
“Any time you allow them to shoot 58 percent from the floor, you’re not going to beat anybody,” Casey said. “Totally disappointed in myself, our team, in all of us, anybody in that locker room. It’s almost like a magnet on the 3-point line to come across and get into them and make them feel us on those shots.”
Without Griffin, Casey started Thon Maker and used Glenn Robinson III as well up front. Drummond overpowered the Cavs, recording his 12th 20-20 game with 21 points and 21 rebounds, but Cleveland wound up outscoring the Pistons 52-44 in the paint. In part, that was a reflection of the 18-8 edge the Cavs had on fast-break points, another indicator of the lethargy that enveloped the Pistons.
Ex-Pistons lottery pick Brandon Knight, on his fifth NBA team, scored a season-high 16 points coming off ACL surgery. Another ex-lottery pick who’s bounced around in his short NBA career, Nik Stauskas, also recorded a season high with 17.
“They shot the ball really well,” said Stauskas’ college teammate at Michigan, Robinson, assessing what the Pistons should have done to make the Cavaliers even remotely uncomfortable. “I think maybe just being a step up, being a little bit more aggressive and trying to affect the shot a little bit more. But a testament to them – they knocked down some shots. We’ll look at the film and get better from it.”
The loss cost the Pistons almost immediately, as Miami – starting a rugged four-game road trip just as the Pistons will on Thursday – scored an upset at Oklahoma City to move within two games of them. That’s surely not the scenario the Pistons envisioned after beating Toronto at home on Sunday.
“I take the blame for it as the head coach of the team,” Casey said. “We preached this morning. I don’t know if they understood the relevance of tonight’s game or of every game, every possession. Every night’s a challenge. There’s no nights we can take for granted in this league if we’re serious about getting back in the playoffs.”