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NBA Playoffs Round Table: Cavs – Pistons Series

By Jared Mueller

Apr 13, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Richard Jefferson, left, LeBron James, center, and Tristan Thompson celebrate near the bench in the fourth quarter against the Detroit Pistons at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 13, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Richard Jefferson, left, LeBron James, center, and Tristan Thompson celebrate near the bench in the fourth quarter against the Detroit Pistons at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 13, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy reacts in overtime against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 13, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy reacts in overtime against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /

The NBA Playoffs are underway and the Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Detroit Pistons today. Our staff roundtable discussion:

The Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Detroit Pistons in the 1st Round Series. Are the Pistons the best (realistic) possible match-up for the Cavs in the opening round?

Jared Mueller – As we saw yesterday, the Pacers are going to be a tough out, the Celtics and Hawks have their talents and the Heat and Hornets should be a great matchup. That leaves the Pistons as the best team for the Cavs in the 1st Round.

Luke Sicari- No. Not that it should matter in the end result, personally, I felt that the Indiana Pacers would have been the ‘easier’ match-up for the Cavaliers in the first round. The Pacers have no areas that would have concerned the Cavs, while the Pistons have the pick and roll combo of Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond that I wrote about here. How the Cavs defend that will be a key in the series and it poses a threat Indiana wouldn’t have.

Omar Josef Guerrero – Nope. We lost to the Pistons thrice and Andre Drummond is a handful. As Luke said, the Pacers would have been a better match-up. Still, the playoffs are a different animal and the Cavs may be more locked in now than at any time this season. Lebron James has been on a tear lately and that figures to continue throughout the playoffs..

Jackson Flickinger – No it is not. LeBron’s teams have always had a hard time with Stan Van Gundy’s teams in the past. Van Gundy out coached Mike Brown in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals and pulled off the upset against a much better team. I attribute the Pistons’ three wins over the Cavs this year to Van Gundy’s superior coaching.  

Chris De Silva – It’s not ideal, but none of the teams competing for the 8 seed were a great matchup (Indiana and Chicago). The Cavs struggled containing the Jackson/Drummond pick and roll throughout the season and it’ll be interesting to see if they’ve got something up their sleeve to deal with it in the post-season. However, it still should be a relatively easy series win as many of the Pistons are making their first foray into the post-season.

Nathen Vieira – The first round of the playoffs would have been a breeze no matter who the Cavs played (Detroit, Chicago or Indiana). Out of those three teams, I’d say the Pistons would be the toughest matchup. They’re a solid young team with studs in Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson. They’ve given the Cavs problems before and wouldn’t be surprised if they did it again.

Next: More Important: Big or Little?