Heading into their game at the Detroit Pistons, the Cleveland Cavaliers wanted to redeem themselves following their nightmarish third quarter on Friday night at the Milwaukee Bucks. Cleveland fell apart then, as the Bucks stampeded over the Cavaliers, and putting a sour taste in fans mouths after a satisfying sweep of their recent homestand.
Fortunately for Cavs fans, the Wine and Gold would rebound on Sunday evening at the Pistons, although it wasn’t easy, as the Pistons made some key shots and drives throughout. Detroit was also shorthanded in this last one, as Cade Cunningham, Bojan Bogdanovic, and others, such as Isaiah Stewart, were sidelined. Additionally, the Pistons were playing their first game back at home after a six-game Western road trip.
But, to Cleveland’s credit, after a sluggish start and first quarter where they couldn’t hit anything and had turnover issues, they were able to grind their way back and eventually, they were able to pull ahead in the fourth quarter. Detroit made their share of tough shots, and Alec Burks gave the Cavaliers problems, as he had 17 points off the bench, and Marvin Bagley III was having success in the low post, en route to a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
As we alluded to, however, the Cavaliers did stay the course here, and in the fourth quarter, Donovan Mitchell and company outscored the Pistons 29-16, and got the stops they needed to down the stretch. One has to give guys such as Cedi Osman and Isaac Okoro some credit for bringing juice defensively on Sunday, too, to that point.
Cleveland would then grind their way to a W, 102-94, moving to 13-7 on the 2022-23 campaign to this point.
So in regards to Sunday’s win, we’ll touch on the Cavaliers stud and dud here.
First, we’ll begin with the Cavaliers stud.