Easily.
That’s not the kind of game Detroit or it’s fans wanted. They came out playing solid in the first quarter and kept the game in striking distance, but any of the fight that Detroit had seemed to get knocked right out with LeBron’s half court buzzer beater to finish the half. The Pistons got within eight with the help of Will Bynum, but the Cavs quickly went back to work to stomp out any hope of a Pistons comeback. The Pistons will have a chance to tie the series up on Tuesday night after the 84-102 loss in game one.
Key Points:
- You can’t win without solid defense. And The Pistons defense was shaky at best. Gone are the days of Detroit used being able to make a an important stop. And from what I saw they couldn’t even get the fundamentals down against Cleveland.
- “Defensively, we just weren’t in sync with each other,” Antonio McDyess said. “When we would go to rotate, somebody wasn’t helping and we’d give up a layup. We just aren’t as sharp defensively as we have been in past years.” Via The Detroit News
- The biggest thing Detroit needed to do to get the win, they didn’t. You can’t take down this team when LeBron scores 38 and get to the line more times than the entire Pistons team. You absolutely can’t deny his game, but it doesn’t make me enjoy it at all, especially his grin after his 40+ foot buzzer beater putting his Cavaliers up 57-45 at the break.
- Counting on Tayshaun Prince to stop LeBron? It didn’t work Saturday afternoon for Tayshaun, Rip or Afflalo. He just made it look easy.
- “We go over things before the game on what we are going to do, but when the game starts it’s not going to play out the same way,” said Prince. “Guys tend to change how they read certain plays and that’s why you saw us communicating out there. It’s not always going to go the way you talk about it beforehand.” Via The Detroit News
- Detroit kept it close in the first half thanks to the play of Rodney Stuckey, who led Detroit with 20 points. He drove the lane in the first half and was quite successful, but he got somewhat cold in the second as did the rest of the team. He was just 7-for-21 shooting with 4 assists and 2 boards.
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- Do you realize that The Pistons are the only team in the Post Season with a losing regular season record.
- Tayshaun scored jut 4 with 2 assists a board and a steal in 37 minutes, but apparently he’s been bothered with lower back pain.
- Another solid game from Kwame who dropped in 5 with 9 boards in 15 minutes.
- Nothing pretty about this one and I couldn’t even pull a good video highlight on the Detroit side. If you missed it, you can watch the Cavalier highlights of the game from NBA.com
- The Pistons turned the ball over just 7 times, but the Cavs even beat them in that department by giving up the ball just 4 times.
- Spark from Bynum in the fourth who scored 6 points with 2 assists in 14 minutes.
- Richard Hamilton chipped in 15 on 6-for-14 shooing with 4 assists. A not so productive Rip, combined with the game Tayshaun had usually spells disaster.
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- “We have to know where LeBron is at all times,” Richard Hamilton said. “When you score 38 against us, we can’t have that and have a chance. We have to figure out a way to stop him.” Via NBA.com
- At one point in the first quarter the Pistons were shooting a whopping 65% from the floor.
- Conspiracy on the LeBron’s Half Court Make? C-Quense makes a point in the comments.“Lebron needs just 1.95 seconds ffor 8 meters. But Carl Lewis wasn’t catching a ball, turning, starts dribbling, jumping and shooting. He was just running. Watch the clock, when he was making that buzzer beater. The NBA is nothing but fake! Catching the ball: 2.00 Seconds leftTurning with the ball: 2.00 seconds left After catching the ball, turning, starting dribbling and running 2 meters. 1.9 seconds left…
- Rasheed Wallace, 13 points on 6-for-10 shooting with 9 boards and 2 assists. Tell me why we didn’t try to go to Sheed a little more?
- 16% from downtown for Detroit.
- Dyess had 10 points and 5 board, but boy does that guy put his heart on the line every game. If you saw his face while sitting on the bench when the starters left the game in the fourth quarter you know what I mean. Ice4dyess
- Michael Curry’s post game presser.
- Best part of this one, all the coaches wearing the CD pin in support of Chuck Daly and his fight with cancer.
- Team Need4Sheed Guest writer Rashid S. Umar over at Hoopsvibe: Going through the motions in Cleveland.
- Next one on Tuesday again in Cleveland. Detroit is going to have to come in with a totally different game plan to try to stop LeBron and the Cavs.
- Don’t give up on this team, they just might surprise you.
