Thursday night the Cleveland Cavaliers headed to Little Caesars Arena to play the Detroit Pistons for the third time this season, losing in heartbreaking fashion 106-103 in the first game for both games following the All-Star break. Their first matchup was on Nov. 12 where the Cavs dominated their way to an emphatic win 98-78. The second, came less than a month ago on Jan. 30 when Detroit got their revenge winning 115-105. Cleveland will look to even up the series when they play Detroit for the last time this season on March 19.
With 67 ticks left on the clock, Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff called a timeout with the game at this point tied up at 102 apiece. Out of the timeout, Lauri Markannen drew a foul, sinking 1 of 2 free throws, giving the Cavs a 1-point lead with 60 seconds left. Cade Cunningham would draw a foul, sinking both of his free throws, taking the lead back for Detroit 104-103.
From there, Cleveland’s next possession would be a whiff as Jarrett Allen would miss a layup. Cunningham would sink 2 more free throws extending their lead to 106-103. In the final 23 seconds of the game, the Cavs got 3 three-pointers off, but missed all, ending the game. One of them was a wide-open look from Brandon Goodwin.
The Cavs were shorthanded for this one as Darius Garland was out with lower back soreness and Caris LeVert was out with a right foot sprain, and is expected to miss 1-2 weeks, per a team release on Thursday.
Rajon Rondo filled in for Garland starting at point, recording 12 points and 9 assists, but did have 6 turnovers. Brandon Goodwin also received more playing time due to the absences, and put up 15 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Both filled in admirably for the All-Star guard, but neither is my pick for the stud of the game.
Cavs stud: Lauri Markkanen
Lauri Markkanen had been out since Jan. 22 wherein a matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder he sprained his ankle. He showed no signs of the injury hindering him as he lead the team in scoring, netting 22 points (the second was Goodwin with 15) to go with 6 boards and a block. Markannen was 8-of-10 from the free throw line and was aggressive for the Cavaliers, taking 16 shots in total.
Markannen didn’t shoot the ball well, going 37.5 percent from the field and 28 percent from the three-point line. He also fumbled his way to four fouls, completely out of character, as he’s averaging 1.8 fouls per game on the year. In fairness, Markkanen did miss Cleveland’s past 11 games, so I have to cut him some slack for a bit, and it was still a solid game from him, given the circumstances.
As mentioned before, guards Rondo and Goodwin stepped up in Garland’s absence. However, I feel as though Rondo’s 6 turnovers were too many to grant him the honor, and Goodwin’s wide-open miss to tie the game late in the fourth sealed his fate for me as well.
Not many Cavaliers performed to their averages on Thursday night, but I would not look too deeply into this as you can chalk it up to Garland’s absence. Markannen has been a gem for the Cavs this season forming the tri-towers alongside rookie sensation Evan Mobley and All-Star Jarrett Allen.
Cavs dud: Kevin Love
Kevin Love has had a career revival this year, playing less minutes off the bench and excelling in this role, being in the running for Sixth Man of the Year. Love was not himself in this one, though, as he could not find the bottom of the net going 1-of-5 from the field and 1-of-4 from three. He finished the game with 4 points, 5 rebounds, 2 fouls, and 2 turnovers in 17 minutes of action.
Love was far from the only dud for the Cavs but he stuck out the most to me due to his consistent play for the majority of the season. Love is one of the elders on the team, is often looked at in situations where the game starts to get out of hand and on Thursday night, he snowballed those situations.
All-Star big man Jarrett Allen played poorly, scoring 11 to go with 8 rebounds, both being below his averages. However, he was able to make his impact felt defensively, recording 3 blocks.
Cleveland will just have to put this one behind them. It was a tough loss, no question about it, considering Detroit is one of the worst teams in the league and it’s the second time they were able to defeat the Cavs this season. With the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics catching fire and flying up the standings it is starting to appear that every win will count in an absolutely loaded Eastern Conference.
The Cavaliers will look to redeem themselves on Saturday night when they square off against the Washington Wizards.